Photo credit: Sportsnet

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube was not amused when his team began to take their foot off the gas in the 3rd period, allowing 2 Kings goals.

The Leafs jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two periods against the Los Angeles Kings last night before the Kings started to claw their way back, scoring less than 3 minutes into the third and adding a second goal just under half way through the final frame.

Following Kevin Fiala’s goal to cut the Leafs’ lead to three, Craig Berube called a timeout to give the Leafs a chance to regroup and reset where he went on a profanity laced rant about getting back to basics.

“Let’s go to work. Gain the offensive zone and go to f***ing work…Let’s wake the f*** up,” said Berube to the group as they crowded around the bench.
 

Following the game, Berube didn’t comment on the timeout, but was not impressed with the team’s third period saying they were very sloppy. The timeout seemed to settle the Leafs down as they shut the door the rest of the game and added a second power-play marker late in the game courtesy of John Tavares.

Over Sheldon Keefe’s five years as head coach of the Leafs, when he called a timeout, the Leafs never seemed to respond the same way they did last night following the rant by Berube. Time and time again, Keefe would call a timeout only to have the opposition continue to pressure the Leafs and more often than not, end up scoring and put fans on edge. The Leafs have always struggled closing out games, even when they have a comfortable lead, but the hope is that a simpler, yet harder style of play under Berube will limit the number of third period collapses the Leafs and their fans are forced to endure.