The

Toronto Maple Leafs

beat the

New York Rangers

3-2 at Madison Square Garden on Friday evening, extending their solid string of performance. The win was their fourth consecutive win and their seventh win in their previous eight games, further cementing their good standing in the table. Nevertheless, even with the good result, head coach

Craig Berube

was not completely content with his team's overall output.

At the postgame press conference, Craig Berube noted some of the areas of concern, most notably Toronto's failure to manage possession during crucial situations. He noted that the team was spending too much time in the defensive end, which gave the Rangers some opportunistic scoring chances. While admitting the necessity of gaining two points, he underlined the necessity for his team to be more efficient in the offensive zone, controlling the game instead of responding to their opponent's pressure.

Berube also answered questions about goaltender

Anthony Stolarz

's position on the team. Asked what he expected from Stolarz entering the season, the coach acknowledged that he did not establish any specific expectations for him. Rather, he emphasized the need for every player to have to earn and prove himself for his spot through performance.
“A little lackluster, in my opinion, but we found a way to get a win,” Berube said (via mapleleafshotstove.com). “I didn’t think we generated enough offensively or got to our game tonight with our forecheck and our hard play down low in the offensive zone. It was in and out too quickly. We spent too much time in our own end.”
Berube praised the team's penalty kill and defensive efforts, but emphasized the need for improved puck management. "The penalty killing was really good. The goaltending was really good. I thought our D battled hard back there. We didn’t do enough with the puck. We did a lot of good things defensively tonight. We blocked shots, and our sticks were good."

"We kept a lot of their shots on the outside, in my opinion, but we have to get up ice and play. We have to get our forecheck going. It is a big part of our game and has been all year. It just wasn’t there tonight," Berube added.
Berube stated that he has no specific expectations for the year from Stolarz. "I don’t know if I had expectations. He has been put into a role now where he is one of our starters and is playing a lot of games," Berube said. "He did a good job in Florida when he played and won a lot of games there. For me, I didn’t have a ton of expectations on either of our goalies, but they have both played extremely well.”
Also Read: “Should have traded him”: Fans thrashed Brad Marchand following his controversial comments, sparking heated debate