Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Craig Berube’s Maple Leafs rolled into Winnipeg and ended the Jets’ undefeated streak, but he still took issue with one aspect of his his team played.

The Leafs held a 5-2 lead over the Jets heading into the third period before Mark Scheifele scored just over five minutes into the final frame to cut the lead to two. It looked like the Jets would complete the comeback after Gabriel Vilardi made it 5-4 with 4 minutes left in the third and the Leafs would fall back into their old ways of giving up third period leads.

The one area of the Leafs’ game that the head coach did not enjoy on Monday night was their constant penalty troubles. Berube thought that his team played well at 5-on-5, but really didn’t like how often they were in the penalty box. Nearly every time they were, the Jets made them pay for it and had designs on coming all the way back in the game. Berube, however, had other ideas, and before the next faceoff, he delivered a calming message to the Leafs, which he revealed in his post-game media availability.
“Just settle down and play. We’re fine. Penalties got us in trouble. That is it. Stay out of the box. We have to be better.”

Berube was able to get his message across without having to call a timeout the same way he did against the LA Kings a couple of weeks ago, but it had the same effect. The Leafs were able to buckle down and secure the needed victory after losing three straight and, in the process, ending Winnipeg’s 8-game win streak to begin the season.

The Leafs are 6-0 against the Jets since Mark Scheifele’s ridiculous post-game comments in December of 2021 after a heated Jets’ victory.

With a couple of days off before they head into a busy weekend, the Leafs will look to clean up their defensive miscues and continue to figure out their very concerning power play struggles before they welcome the Seattle Kraken to Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.