Last night, the Maple Leafs got smacked pretty hard by the New York Islanders, who managed to score six goals on a team that had prided itself on defense all season long.
Craig Berube speaks on the Toronto Maple Leafs collapse
According to Dave A. McCarthy of NHL.com, the head coach had a pretty reasonable explanation for what went down.
Essentially, Berube feels like the back-to-back hurt the Leafs, and with the Islanders coming into the game fresh, they had an easier time getting done what they needed to do.
''You're on a back-to-back, fresh team waiting for you who hasn't played in a while and we give up two 2-on-1s in the first five minutes of the game' That's how I see it, just not very smart. A little (surprising). Early on in the period, they were better than us, on their toes and we weren't very smart.''
Berube also noted that the Leafs need to be smarter in the way they approach back-to-backs, moving forward.
''I get they're rested and they're going to be a little more quicker, but we have to be smarter than that. You can't give the freebees, and we gave them two right away and got behind. Wasn't a good game.''
Everything the head coach is saying right now is pretty accurate and also exceptionally reasonable.
The Leafs will just have to regroup now and focus on their next game which is tomorrow night.
Despite the loss, the Maple Leafs remain tied for first in the Atlantic Division with a record of 21-11-2.