Craig Berube on the Maple Leafs' 6-3 loss in Detroit: "Until we want to value the importance of second periods and how we need to play them, this is what can happen"

"I thought we started off fine in the second, but we didn't close anything off in our zone. We spent too much time in our zone. They eventually capitalized. We tired ourselves out because we three-quarter-ice'd ourselves in the second period. That cost us the hockey game. That's the result. In saying that, we have to take care of those seams. We know they like them. We didn't do a good enough job there, either. For me, that is the difference in the hockey game."

"He was good - very good. Until we want to value the importance of second periods and how we need to play them, that is what can happen. We'll have to evaluate him tomorrow. I don't know. We were shuffling around. I used different guys there. They ended up scoring another goal with Nylander with them. In the third period, we came out and were in the game."

"That is part of hockey. If you don't exit the zone and get pucks into the other zone with fresh people out there, it is hard. On that one shift, Carlo might've spent three minutes out there. It's stuff like that. We have to work a lot harder in the second periods at managing the game and exiting our zone. We had the puck on our tape twice on two goals,"

Toronto lost 6-3 after defensive breakdowns in the second period led to Detroit goals and Toronto fatigue from extended shifts. The team spent too much time in its zone, failed to clear seams for backdoor opportunities, and conceded multiple goals through those areas. Anthony Stolarz performed well in goal. Steven Lorentz's status requires evaluation and lineup shuffling affected matchups, including Nylander chemistry. An unnecessary third-period penalty disrupted momentum despite a strong power play. Persistent long-change issues and poor zone exits require harder work and better game management in second periods to prevent similar outcomes.

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