MONTREAL – Craig Berube preferred what he noticed — in many of the closing 40 minutes.
The primary interval, in the meantime, appeared much more just like the model of the Toronto Maple Leafs that has them staring down a prolonged dropping streak and a primary missed journey to the playoffs since 2016.
The Montreal Canadiens jumped out to a 2-0 lead en path to a 3-1 win over their Unique Six rivals Tuesday night time, extending Toronto’s winless skid to eight video games.
“They outskated us and had the play within the first interval,” Leafs coach Berube stated. “I assumed we did a a lot better job within the second interval, received ourselves again within the sport. We simply want extra.
“We simply wanted extra of a push from a whole lot of guys.”
The Canadiens dominated early, toying with the Leafs within the offensive zone to carry a 15-8 edge in photographs after 20 minutes.
Zachary Bolduc noticed an early likelihood go large and Kaiden Guhle ripped a shot off Joseph Woll’s masks earlier than Oliver Kapanen opened the scoring lower than 5 minutes in, ending a slick passing play with Ivan Demidov and Alex Newhook with a deke from the purpose line.
Montreal stored urgent till Phillip Danault capitalized on a fortuitous bounce to make it 2-0 at 14:41, as Guhle’s dump-in ricocheted off the glass and landed on the veteran centre’s stick for his fifth of the season.
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“They positively had the play within the first for certain, had the puck,” Berube stated. “We didn’t examine it off of them after which once we did, we didn’t do something with the puck. Didn’t rise up the ice as a five-man unit and create something. We had 5 photographs on internet and a pair possibilities, however not sufficient.”
Toronto pushed again within the second interval with William Nylander slicing into the lead after a give-and-go with Easton Cowan throughout a robust stretch within the second interval, however Montreal shut the sport down within the third — with assist from two Leafs penalties within the closing 9 minutes.
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Nylander stated though the push again could also be encouraging, it’s nonetheless removed from the place the Maple Leafs should be.
“It’s a whole lot of losses in a row now,” he stated. “Components of all of the video games we’ve been enjoying, we’ve been enjoying snippets of fine hockey. And I imply, that’s not how we wish to play once we play a full sport of fine hockey. So till we pattern nearer to that, I believe (that’s when) it is going to be constructive.
“They have been sort of throughout us. Generally that occurs, groups are throughout (you), however to surrender that many possibilities to start with, it’s sort of robust. Woll did an excellent job and stored us within the sport all night time.”
The Maple Leafs (27-27-11) fell 13 factors outdoors the playoffs and 15 behind the Canadiens (35-18-10), who jumped to 3rd within the Atlantic Division.
So why can’t Toronto put collectively a full sport of “good hockey”?
“It’s robust to say, nevertheless it’s arduous to win on this league for those who don’t get it,” Berube stated. “You don’t need to dominate a interval, however it’s a must to be within the sport. You bought to create and you bought to defend.
“All through this stretch, there’s been a whole lot of good hockey, however then there’s that stretch of — if it’s a interval or a 10-minute stretch in a interval — the place these groups rating two, three targets on us.”
Berube then identified that the Leafs can’t rating their means out of these lapses. Toronto captain Auston Matthews — a former 69-goal scorer — prolonged his goalless streak to 12 video games on Tuesday.
“Proper now, we will’t discover the again of the online sufficient,” he stated. “When this is happening, you bought to maintain the puck out of our internet as a lot as doable, hopefully discover our groove with the scoring, however we’d like extra guys to dig in and contribute than there’s proper now.”
Over within the Canadiens dressing room, centre Jake Evans referred to as the outing their “most full sport.”
“I felt the third interval, we have been in management for many of it,” he stated. “We simply didn’t get that third or possibly even fourth purpose to take them out of it, and so they fought arduous to battle again.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 11, 2026.
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