HC Craig Berube gives his honest opinion on if current Toronto Maple Leafs squad reminds him St. Louis Blues' 2019 Stanley Cup winning roster

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube was on the sidelines of the title-winning St. Louis Blues in 2019 as they ended a 52-year wait and lifted their franchise's first title from the depths of despair. While Toronto is having a much better regular season than the '19 Blues, Berube is hopeful that there are similar signs of Leafs' aiming to break their own drought.

In the post-game interviews of Leafs' matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers, Craig Berube was questioned, whether he felt any resemblance to the Stanley Cup-winning team from six years back. He responded that the Blues team had a fight in them each night and the Leafs are certainly on track for it.

"To a certain extent. I think that team played with an identity every night. Our team is really starting to trend that way of playing with that identity every night, staying patient, and not forcing things too much. We are going to have a lot of difficult games where it is not easy hockey. It is only going to get more difficult down the stretch, in my opinion," Berube said. [12:00]

At the same stage, Berube and his current team are at a much better position. St. Louis was dead last in the NHL on January 3, 2019 but had a remarkable turnaround, going all the way to the Cup Finals, where they beat the Bruins.

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Maple Leafs win another close game this season in latest win against Flyers

One of the hallmarks of all great teams should be their ability to win close games. The Leafs are making a habit of it. Their 3-2 win against the Flyers on Sunday (January 5), is now their ninth victory this season with a single-goal margin, counting overtime wins.

Leafs' Morgan Rielly addressed their newfound habit and the will of the team to keep working harder to get these wins.

"I think just, I think just being comfortable with the structure, I think patience plays a role in it. I think that there's lots of things that play a role in it. And, you know, I think it's a good position to be in this time of year, being in those close games, being comfortable in those one-goal games. And so as we go along here, there's room for improvement, areas to improve on. But right now, things are going our way, so we’ll keep working hard," Rilley said. [4:38]

The city of Toronto has waited since 1967, the last time the Leafs made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, to call themselves the title-holders.