What’s Craig Berube Thinking as the Maple Leafs Implode?

The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered another loss last night. This time to the Colorado Avalanche. For those fans counting, it’s now four straight losses and six in the last seven games. Bottom line? Things aren’t going well for the Maple Leafs, and I can’t even imagine how coach John Hiller feels as he faces the scrutinizing media. There’s no pretending otherwise.

After Tuesday’s 6-3 loss to Colorado, Hiller gave his players a simple message. We’re on our own here. Nobody’s going to ride to the rescue or come along and fix this for us. His answer to his players? “Work your way out. It’s the only way. You can’t hope. You can’t be average. You’ve got to work your way out. Every guy.”

I wonder if former coach Craig Berube is watching all this and feeling just a little vindicated.

Maple Leafs Fans Are Losing Patience

I think most Maple Leafs fans would agree with Hiller that they need to work harder to pull out of the tailspin. The one thing they might disagree with is that he didn’t say his team has been terrible every night. In fact, he thought they played some pretty good hockey for much of the game against Colorado. The problem is that playing well for stretches hasn’t been enough to get the job done.

If you read different Maple Leafs Facebook sites, fans are far less kind. They do think the team has been terrible, and they cannot understand some of the decisions. Chief among them is the continued push to start Sergei Bobrovsky. Some fans have clearly lost confidence in the veteran goalie. Their first quick fix is making Anthony Stolarz the starting goalie.

Looking at the numbers, Bobrovsky stopped 22 of 27 shots against Colorado. He’s now allowed at least three goals in 12 of his 13 starts since joining the Maple Leafs. But Hiller isn’t blaming it all on the goalie. He sees the same inconsistency throughout the lineup.

Hiller Knows the Maple Leafs Deserve the Criticism

“Our results suck. You can write those stories. There’s no question, and we deserve that,” he said. He gets that the team is now 20 games into the season and they still haven’t figured out how to put together enough good hockey to win consistently. After last night’s game, he laid out what he saw needed work.

One thing that bothers him is the way his team handles important moments. After Jack Roslovic tied the game, the team quickly gave up the go-ahead goal. Hiller didn’t blame one player. He pointed to several poor decisions in a row. “We made multiple poor decisions. Multiple,” he said.

His point was pretty clear. One player makes a mistake, and sometimes a teammate can bail him out. But when several experienced players make poor reads one after another, you’re probably going to pay for it.

Looking for Some Maple Leafs Positives

So, were there any positives? Darren Raddysh and Easton Cowan come to mind. Each scored a goal and added an assist, while Roslovic scored his ninth of the season. Toronto’s top line, centred by Auston Matthews, also had a good night by outpacing MacKinnon’s line 19-8 in shot attempts and keeping MacKinnon off the scoresheet. That’s something.

Now what? Hiller says he likes his team and thinks it will come around. The next chance comes Thursday against the Minnesota Wild, who arrive with a 13-3-4 record. Another tough game, but maybe that’s exactly the sort of challenge Toronto needs.

For now, Hiller wants every player to take more responsibility, make better decisions, and put together a good old-fashioned 60-minute effort. That’s not asking too much, is it? Maple Leafs fans have been frustrated, but give them a reason to believe again, and they’ll be right back on that bandwagon. That’s how being a fan works.

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