The Craig Berube revenge game turned out to be an absolute dud.
The Maple Leafs welcomed their head coach’s former team to town and the St Louis Blues handed it to the Leafs, from start to finish, winning handily 5-1.
Joseph Woll made his first start of the season after battling a groin injury the past couple of weeks. He’d make 21 saves on 26 shots and certainly wasn’t as sharp as we normally see. Woll gets a pass on his season-opening performance because he hadn’t played since Oct.5, and that was to close out the preseason. The regular season is a different beast.
The Blues opened the scoring on their third shot just over four minutes into the first period. Defenseman Philip Broberg blasted a seeing-eye clapper past Woll, and while the traffic in front didn’t help, it was hard to ignore the fact Woll was fighting the puck early on.
Not long after, Jake McCabe took a high-sticking penalty after clipping former Leaf Kasperi Kapanen under the visor. After a defensive breakdown, Blues’ forward Dylan Holloway would make no mistake all alone in front for his second of the season, to make it 2-0 St Louis. Just over ten minutes in and the Maple Leafs were once again behind the eight ball.
Toronto had two power plays in the first period and couldn’t get one past Richmond Hill native Jordan Binnington. Both power play units had decent looks, but nothing to show for it. Their continued struggles with the man advantage must be keeping assistant coach Marc Savard up at night.
Woll made his best save of the period with a minute left in the opening frame. It was a huge stop late to keep the Maple Leafs in the game heading into the intermission, and likely a save that kept him from being pulled in between periods.
Woll OWNS his crease with a massive save for the Leafs 👏 pic.twitter.com/77yo9F3L7l
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 24, 2024
The second period was a different story, at least early on. Oliver Ekman-Larsson one-timed home his first as a Maple Leafs just over six minutes into the middle frame. The veteran defenceman has been an impactful addition with his all-around game and it’s great to see him get on the board, blasting one past Binnington. Traffic in front, gotta love it.
OLIVER EKMAN-LARSSON🚨
First as a Leaf! It’s a 2-1 game! pic.twitter.com/HhFum0OQJl
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) October 25, 2024
The good times didn’t last long. The Blues stretched their lead to two after McCabe and Auston Matthews lost a battle under the icing line and next thing you know, Blues forward Alex Texier buried the team’s third goal passed Woll. Berube was not a happy camper and let Matthews hear it a little when he got back to the bench. It’s the culture the head coach is trying to build – everyone must be accountable at all times.
Berube’s not happy with the top line after that goal against pic.twitter.com/g3wzoWYAR4
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) October 25, 2024
With Max Pacioretty day-to-day, Steven Lorentz was moved up in the lineup. He drew a penalty late in the second period, using his speed and size to get body positioning on Blues’ defenceman Justin Faulk. Unfortunately, the Leafs couldn’t do anything with it.
In the third, Berube put the lines in a blender. John Tavares started with William Nylander and Matthew Knies, meanwhile Matthews and Mitch Marner were joined by Bobby McMann. It didn’t help a thing. The Blues scored their fourth of the game just a few minutes in after Nylander gave the puck up at the Blues blueline. Jake Neighbours went the other way and eventually beat Woll over his glove.
Berube pulled Woll with just under four minutes left in the game, and Holloway made no mistake for his second of the night, putting the game away. Edmonton Oilers’ fans are probably starting to wonder why the team didn’t match the offer sheets for either Broberg or Holloway, or both for that matter.
The Maple Leafs’ power play finished the night 0-for-4 and were booed by the home crowd in the third. Berube is likely pondering some more personnel changes as the Leafs desperately need a spark with the man advantage.
The .500 Maple Leafs will get back to work at practice before heading to Boston to faceoff against the Bruins on Saturday night. Remember all the positive chatter after Toronto blew out the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.
Life comes at you fast Leafs Nation, eight games in and we have fans throwing jerseys on the ice.
Someone just a threw a jersey on the ice. 😳 pic.twitter.com/62ukzg9nzZ
— Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) October 25, 2024
Worth noting the Maple Leafs have started slow the past four seasons. Now we wait and see how Berube handles it.
