Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube watches his team in action against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Toronto on Oct. 12.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
That the Toronto Maple Leafs would have a 2-1 record heading into Thanksgiving might not have registered too highly on the NHL’s early season surprise-o-meter.
That they would do it without so much as a point from newly installed captain Auston Matthews, a player who registered 107 of them last season, could be enough to raise a few eyebrows though.
Still, mini-droughts aside – just the second time Matthews has been held without a goal over the season’s first three games – the Craig Berube head-coaching express is running way ahead of schedule.
The team has shown it can win on the road and at home, and particularly in last Thursday’s win at New Jersey, can get scoring from up and down the lineup.
Saturday’s 4-2 home-opening win against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins was more of the Leafs reverting to type, with the top two lines accounting for all four goals.
Berube, who opened training camp espousing his mantra of “north-south” hockey, seemed pleased with the early returns on Saturday night.
“It’s still a work in progress for sure,” he said. “Guys really bought into camp, and what we were trying to accomplish and achieve in camp, and it’s carried over to these games so far. But we’ve got to keep improving and keep getting better.”
While William Nylander took his share of plaudits after scoring his first two goals of the season against Pittsburgh, it was Mitch Marner who took home the first star of the game after scoring the eventual game-winner thanks to a moment of pure hockey IQ. With Crosby allowing the puck to slide by him along the boards on the assumption it would reach defenceman Marcus Pettersson, Marner read the situation perfectly, poking the puck past the blueliner and outstripping him in a foot race before beating rookie Joel Blomqvist in the Penguins net.
As someone who was persona non grata for many Leafs fans after posting just three points in the team’s seven-game first-round playoff exit, it was a nice dose of redemption in the first home game of the season.
Not that Berube had much to quibble about with Marner’s history anyway.
“I’ve watched Mitch from afar for a long time, and obviously coached against him,” he said. “He’s a very good two-way player, all-situational player, great teammate that I’ve seen.”
Berube certainly leaned on the Toronto native, who also picked up an assist in the victory to move past Ron Ellis into seventh place in the franchise’s career points list with 641. Marner had 21:36 of ice time, more than any other forward other than Matthews.
Both expect to be worked hard this season, with Berube also opening camp talking about hard work and compete level being “non-negotiables.”
As Matthew Knies tells it though, Berube’s vertical system may be hard, but in reality it’s no more challenging physically than any other in the NHL.
“I mean, at this level, everything’s taxing, everything’s tiring,” said the top-line winger, who scored Toronto’s second on Saturday. “It’s just how you manage it, how you take care of yourself off the ice.”
Beyond the victories, the results have certainly been visible. While the Leafs had an identical 2-1 record after the opening three games last year, the way those games were won was very different. Last year’s squad scored 14 goals and gave up 13, while this year’s group has tallied eight and conceded five. However, the power play has continued to struggle, going 0-for-9 to start the season, with Berube calling it “stagnant.”
Anthony Stolarz, who made 27 saves to pick up his first win as a Maple Leaf, said the early returns of Berube’s influence go beyond simply wins and losses. After making a number of key late saves to preserve Saturday’s win, Stolarz was awarded the team’s championship belt, an in-house award given to the game’s outstanding performer, styled on a boxing belt and replete with every Leafs logo throughout history.
“I just think he’s pretty direct, he kind of explains to us how he wants [it],” Stolarz said of his head coach. “It’s a pretty simple system and the guys have to go out there and execute. You look at it, one guy’s out of position you’re kind of screwing everyone else so there’s a lot of accountability, but guys have bought in extremely well so far.”