""Ourselves," Berube said bluntly when asked what made the Capitals a big challenge for them. "We had power play opportunities, the power play was not good, it's gotta be a lot better. To me, they played with more passion than we did tonight. That's what it boils down to. It looked to be like they had way more urgency in their game, way more passion in their game, that's the difference.""
"Berube was then asked how you explain the lack of passion considering the circumstances surrounding the Leafs right now, to which he delivered the dagger. "Ask those guys," motioning his head toward the Leafs dressing room. "Not me.""
""The power play has actually been getting better, but tonight it got awful in my opinion," Berube said. "I thought the other unit did some good things, they had a couple of opportunities and just misfired, didn't go in, had some good chances. But, our top unit didn't execute, didn't win any battles then they needed to, just couldn't make plays.""
The Capitals displayed more passion and urgency, outplaying the Maple Leafs and producing a shutout. Toronto failed to generate offence both at even strength and on the power play, going 0-for-5 with the top unit repeatedly pulled or kept off during crucial moments. The top power-play unit failed to maintain offensive-zone possession, lost battles, and did not execute key plays. The secondary unit created chances but could not convert. The top line of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Matthew Knies was outplayed 5-on-5 despite being paired to spark consistent offence.
Read at TheLeafsNation
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