Craig Berube throws Leafs’ star players under the bus after devils loss

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has had enough and made sure his players knew on after Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at the hands of the New Jersey Devils. When asked about his top line, the bench boss did not hold back, saying the trio of Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies and Max Domi has failed to generate consistent offensive pressure.

“It’s obviously not good enough. I don’t feel like they have any sustained pressure in the offensive zone,” he said. “I’m getting tired of it, to be honest with you.”

During last night’s game against Jersey, Berube attempted to mix things up and tried Domi and William Nylander, and gave Nick Robertson and Calle Jarnkrok a look on the top line with Matthews, but found no success.

The Leafs will resume practice today and I’m sure we will see more line experimenting, and perhaps Toronto will also have to make significant changes to its defense pairings. Last night, blue liner Chris Tanev left the game with an upper-body injury, and after the contest, Berube admitted that the veteran defenseman could miss some time.

“Upper body. It’s a possibility (he’ll miss time).”

On Wednesday after practice, Berube added that Tanev is feeling better today but lists his status as “questionable right now”.

A lot of changes are expected in Toronto, and the pressure is on for Berube to find the right combinations. If he doesn’t, the top players are likely to face even more criticism.