Belief in Berube has Leafs on cusp of Conference final

The Maple Leafs held a media availability at their hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. before flying home on Saturday.

Saturday is the one-year anniversary of Craig Berube being hired as Leafs head coach.

“Oh yeah,” he said with a smile. “Nice. I didn’t even know that.”

What he does know is his team has taken big steps in the last 12 months.

"You guys see it on the ice, but I see it internally with just how the leadership group has grown," the 59-year-old said. "I always talk about the buy-in, and a new coach brings in a new system, a new identity, how we want to play, culture, and I think our team's had great buy-in and that's why it works. To be honest, if you got the buy-in, it's going to work. And they bought in."

That buy-in allowed the Leafs to bounce back from a disappointing performance in Game 5 of their second-round series against the Florida Panthers. Toronto fell 6-1 on home ice on Wednesday, which pushed the team to the brink of elimination.

The Leafs recovered to win 2-0 in Florida on Friday night.

“Commitment to defence,” Berube told his players inside the dressing room after the win. “Commitment to checking. That’s the difference in the game. You guys skated, competed, battled. At home, same mentality. Determination. Second and third effort is everything. Good job. F—king right, baby!”

The team posted a behind-the-scenes video featuring the coach's post-game pep talk on Saturday. 

Game 7 between the Leafs and Panthers goes Sunday back in Toronto where Berube will look to guide the franchise to its first Eastern Conference final in 23 years. He had a simple message for his players on the eve of the biggest game of the season.

"Relax," he instructed. "Get rest and focus on what we focused on in Game 6, really ... I don't think a whole lot needs to change. You've got to be determined. You've got to be desperate and you're going to have to have urgency.”

Berube’s steadfast and stoic approach has benefitted a core group (centre Auston Matthews, winger Mitch Marner, winger William Nylander and defenceman Morgan Rielly) that advanced past the first round of the playoffs just once in eight years prior to his arrival.

“He's been awesome,” said centre Scott Laughton. “I think just his demeanour and how composed he is ... Just a very composed guy off the ice and I think he's helped us a ton here."

Berube has stuck with the same lineup for most of this playoff run. 

"He trusts you and you appreciate that as a player," said Laughton.

Berube arrived in Toronto with instant credibility having guided the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup championship in 2019.

“He knows what it takes,” said Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who lifted the Stanley Cup with the Panthers last year. “Going back to when we started this season, I think that's one thing that he really helped this group [with] … Just stay in the moment and stay focusing on what we have to do to the next shift. I think that's something that we have been getting better at throughout the year.”

During the Matthews/Marner era, the Leafs are 0-6 in series-deciding games. That includes five Game 7s and one Game 5 in the 2020 bubble playoffs.

Berube has a different track record. During that run in 2019, the Blues won two Game 7s, including in the Stanley Cup final against the Boston Bruins.

“You wait around for it all day, which is a little bit painful,” Berube said of coaching in a Game 7. “But once it gets going, you know, it's great. You're in the moment. There's a lot of emotion going on in the game, a lot of intensity, and as the head coach, it's important to stay calm and keep your players, you know, directed in the right way and staying calm too. But it's a lot of fun. I enjoy it.”

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Matthew Knies played through pain in Game 6 after taking a reverse hit from Panthers defenceman Niko Mikkola in the first period.

Knies appeared to be mouthing, “I can’t even move it,” while talking with head athletic therapist Paul Ayotte at the bench. The 22-year-old remained in the game, but logged only 13 minutes of ice time, which was well below his playoff average (20:11). Knies was bumped down the lineup and off the top power play unit.

Berube did not have an update on the top-line winger’s status when he spoke to reporters on Saturday morning.

“I haven't seen him today so, I mean, I don't have an update for you right now,” Berube said. 

There will be more clarity on Knies’ status when the team reconvenes at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday morning.

If Knies can’t play in Game 7 that will be a big blow. He’s tied for second on the team with five goals in the playoffs and plays a role on both the power play and penalty kill.

"He touches every part of the game, that's for sure, and scored some big goals for us,” Berube said. “He's been a very good player in the playoffs.”

Knies is already establishing himself as a clutch performer despite being the team’s youngest player. He scored an overtime winner in Game 5 of last year’s playoff series against the Boston Bruins, which kept the Leafs alive. He scored the game-winning goal in Game 1 of this series.

Knies has played almost the entire season on the top line with Matthews and Marner.

“He plays hard, and complements those two guys really well,” Laughton said. “Haven't talked to him or seen him this morning, but he finished the game and looked pretty good and did a good job. So, we'll see what happens.”

Fellow left winger Bobby McMann is a candidate to take on more ice time with Knies either out or hurting. McMann made a nice pass to assist on the insurance marker by Max Pacioretty in Game 6. It was McMann’s second point of the playoffs and first since the opening game of the first round.

“You feel good about contributing,” he said. "You feel good to be a part of it, be a part of a big goal like that.”

McMann is participating in his first playoff run in the NHL after missing out on last year’s series against Boston due to injury.

“That’s kind of what you live for,” he said of the Game 6 experience. “You want something on the line, you want to play for something, and that’s what we did and we rose to it.”

McMann scored 20 goals in the regular season, but is mired in a 23-game drought. He hasn't scored a goal since March 25.

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With the game tied 0-0 in the third period, Matthews delivered his first goal in the second round of the playoffs. After Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling botched a breakout play, Matthews took a pass from longtime linemate Marner and beat Sergei Bobrovsky along the ice.

“I was able to jump on it quickly,” Marner said. "And, like we’ve done all year, I try to get Tone the puck with speed coming down the ice. Regardless of where he’s shooting from there’s always a chance it goes in. That’s a goal scorer’s goal. We needed that, and that’s what he does.”

The goal was Matthews’ first since Game 6 against the Ottawa Senators in the first round.

“That felt great,” Matthews said. “Like I said [Friday morning], I've had some good opportunities all series and I'm just going to continue to shoot and believe that the next one is going in.”

“It’s such a huge, huge goal,” Pacioretty said. "That’s a situation where no one wants to make a mistake. You could feel the tension on both sides there at that point of the game, and just an unbelievable shot from an unbelievable player. That’s why he’s our captain.”

Matthews addressed the team in the dressing room after the game.

“We’re not done yet,” he said. “That’s a big win. Great effort all throughout our lineup. Let’s go get the job done at home.”

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Matthews passed the player-of-the-game puck to goalie Joseph Woll in the dressing room. As Woll placed the puck in the plastic holder, which tracks the team’s path to 16 wins, defenceman Simon Benoit sang, ‘You’re my Joseph Woll!’ to the tune of the Wonderwall song by Oasis.

Fans were singing it on the subway on the way home from Maple Leaf Square as well.

Woll stopped all 22 shots he faced on Friday to improve to 4-1 when facing elimination in the playoffs.

“We weren’t worried about him for one second,” McMann said. “He was solid all the way through, square to pucks, on rebounds, sliding across for backdoors. He was all over it.”

Woll was also on his game in the playoffs last year when he backstopped Toronto to wins in Game 5 and Game 6 against Boston. But Woll sustained an injury on the final play of Game 6 and was forced to miss the deciding game.

“It sucked not being able to play last year, for sure,” Woll said. “I think this is a pretty special opportunity for our team. I think we feel good going in and we know our process. Just going to take that through.”

The Leafs blocked 31 shots on Friday night versus only 10 by the Panthers.

“The biggest thing I saw was guys putting their body on the line, especially in the last couple of minutes,” Woll said. “A ton of blocked shots. A couple of times, two or three guys in front of me laying down to eat the pucks."

Toronto leads the playoffs in blocked shots.

“I just thought we were late getting it off our sticks,” said Panthers coach Paul Maurice. “We were waving the gun a lot, but we didn’t want to pull the trigger on a few. We just made people nervous.”

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Leafs lines in Game 6:

Knies - Matthews - Marner
Holmberg - Tavares -Nylander
Lorentz - Laughton - Jarnkrok   
McMann - Domi - Pacioretty

McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Carlo  
Benoit - Ekman-Larsson

Woll starts
Murray