Maple Leafs HC Craig Berube doesn't mince his words while addressing disappointing 5-2 loss against Capitals

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube shared his thoughts after Saturday's 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals. The game marked Toronto’s third defeat in its last four outings.

Berube pointed out critical mistakes that led to the loss.

“Three mistakes in the game that we made and it went in our net,” Berube said after the game. “I thought we played a pretty hard game. A lot of opportunities we didn’t finish.”

The Maple Leafs started strong, with John Tavares deflecting Simon Benoit’s shot into the net for an early 1-0 lead. However, Andrew Mangiapane tied the game shortly after with a goal on a 2-on-1 rush. Jakob Chychrun gave Washington a 2-1 lead with a one-timer past Matt Murray during the first period.

“I’m sure he wants a couple back but he hasn’t played a ton of hockey,” Berube said about Murray's 27 saves. “He battled, he fought.”

Bobby McMann scored on his rebound in the second period, tying the game 2-2 before Nic Dowd quickly put Washington back on top with a well-placed shot.

Tom Wilson extended the Capitals’ lead to 4-2 in the third period by deflecting Chychrun’s point shot during a power play. Alex Ovechkin added an empty-net goal late in the game to make it 5-2.

John Tavares and William Nylander talked about Maple Leafs' loss

John Tavares and William Nylander spoke about the Toronto Maple Leafs' loss on Saturday. Tavares is on a tear in the last year of his seven-year $77,000,000 contract with 37 points, including 18 goals. He has scored two hat tricks this season, one against Buffalo and the other against Winnipeg. He missed his second chance to score a hat trick against the Jets in the game before the Christmas break.

“We certainly had chances, had looks,” Tavares said, via NHL.com, “We were on the wrong side of it on special teams today. It’s just small margins, execution at times. We have to execute defensively and when we create offense, we have to find ways to break them down and beat their goaltender.

"Goalies are going to play well, have a hot hand and you tip your cap to that but we want to find a way to break through and earn the result we need.”

Nylander, who leads the Leafs in goals with 23, also talked about missed opportunities.

“That happens,” Nylander said. “The goalie makes a great save. I myself had some great scoring chances and didn’t capitalize so that’s probably one of the reasons why (we lost) and they played well too. The chances I had early on though, that would have given us a little bit of a lead if I were to score.”

Both Maple Leafs players focused on taking advantage of scoring opportunities and improving execution.