Maple Leafs HC Craig Berube brushes off concern after Toronto's 3-1 loss to rival Florida Panthers

Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube is not too concerned after the team’s 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. Toronto struggled on Tuesday night, and they were outshot 37-18 and lost many faceoff chances.

Florida looked stronger this time with their captain, Aleksander Barkov, back in the lineup. Last week, the Leafs had beaten the Panthers 3-2 when Barkov was out.

Speaking to the media prior to Wednesday's game, Berube pointed to their good record in recent back-to-back games.

“Move on. We usually come back a lot more competitive (4-0-0-1 in recent back-to-backs),” Berube said.

The Maple Leafs have already made the playoffs with a 47-26-4 record. Mitch Marner is the team leader in points and has scored 94 this season.

Forward William Nylander is leading the team in goals with 44. But their fight is not over yet, as the Leafs have five games left this season to secure the first position in their Atlantic Division.

In the offseason, the Maple Leafs hired Craig Berube, who has won the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019. The Leafs hope his experience can help them turn around their playoff disappointment. Wednesday’s game could have a big impact on their playoff path.

Toronto will face Tampa Bay on Wednesday, and they are two points ahead of the Lightning in the standings.

Craig Berube also talked about Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, who is tied for the first spot in the league. This season, he has scored 115 points, with 34 goals and 81 assists. Additionally, he is logging in nearly 21 and a half minutes on average and has a rating of 23 this season.

"He almost has eyes in the back of his head, knows where his linemates are," Berube said. "Under pressure he still makes a play."

Toronto will need to play better in O-zone and D-zone to win this important game.

Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube's post-game comments on Tuesday

Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube also talked about the team's loss and said Florida showed more effort. He pointed to faceoffs as one clear difference, with Florida winning nearly 70% of them.

“They wanted it more than us. It starts in the faceoff circle. They were 70% tonight,” Berube said, referring to faceoff wins, per mapleleafshotstove.com). "To me, it comes down to competitiveness and digging in more. They seemed like a more desperate team than us."

The loss ended the Toronto Maple Leafs’ four-game win streak.