Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube found a silver lining in Tuesday’s loss to the New York Islanders, as defenseman Morgan Rielly showed his mettle by defending goaltender Joseph Woll. When Islanders forward Kyle MacLean collided with Woll, Rielly was quick to step up, dropping the gloves to stand up for his teammate.
Berube praised Rielly’s actions, saying, "It's a great job by him getting in there and sticking up for Joseph. Obviously, that message has gotten across."
The Maple Leafs have been in the spotlight recently, especially after their lack of response to Radko Gudas' knee-on-knee hit on Auston Matthews, which ended Matthews' season and earned Gudas a five-game suspension. Rielly, who was on the ice during the incident, admitted he should have reacted differently. Berube has noticed a shift in Rielly’s approach in the games since.
"It's been a tough year for him, we all know that," Berube commented about Rielly. "He took that personally against Matthews.
Like I said, it's not just on Mo or this guy, it's everybody. They all should have been in there right away.
I think that they've obviously learned from it, and it's been a difference now."
Forward Steven Lorentz reflected on the impact of the Matthews incident, noting it served as a wake-up call for the team. "It's definitely got guys' attention.
I mean, it got the hockey world's attention, right? And we were disappointed in ourselves and how we handled that situation," Lorentz shared.
Acknowledging the external criticism, Lorentz added, "You hear the outside noise. You know, we'd be lying if we said we don't hear it.
It's not that we don't pay attention to it. But we have to do a job, and we know what that is.
And at times, we're human. We get away from it."
This incident seems to have sparked a renewed sense of responsibility and unity within the team, as they look to move forward with a stronger, more cohesive mindset.