The Toronto Maple Leafs loss to the Florida Panthers last night was 100% on coach Craig Berube.
First, there is no excuse for the Toronto Maple Leafs to lost to a Florida Panthers team that is missing several of its best players.
Let's get that out of the way right now. Last night's game was a must win, and the Leafs did not win it. As such, they are now four points back of the division lead, and winning the division isn't optional, as the team that wins it is highly likely to represent the East in the Stanley Cup Finals.
So being close or having the better stats doesn't matter. Moral victories are not important right now. And, besides, while I'll normally be happy to point to the team with the best stats and ignore the result of a regular season game, this is a special case because the Leafs coach made several fundamental mistakes which prevented his team from winning an otherwise winnable game.
Why last night's loss is on Craig Berube
Overall, the Toronto Maple Leafs have started their top line 200+ less times for offensive zone faceoffs than their opponents deploy their best players.
This has a massive effect on the Leafs best player's ability to score. Mitch Marner has six points less than Nathan MacKinnon at 5v5, and has started 200 less times in the offensive zone. That's crazy - Marner is scoring at a rate that would likely see him win the scoring race if he took a normal amount of ozone faceoffs for a player of his caliber.
It would be one thing to use one of his franchise players in a defensive role, but Berube has Marner and Matthews playing together almost 100% of the time. The Leafs, despite being at home, hard-matched their two franchise players to the Panthers top line last night.
The end result was that neither line had much effect on the game. The Leafs best players brilliantly played defense. But the thing is, that's a very stupid way to deploy players who score at rates that other star players are jealous of.
Scoring is rare. Literally two or three people on earth can score in a comparable way to Auston Matthews. There are dozens of players who can equal his defense. Doesn't it make obvious and self-evident sense that you should utilize rare skills over common ones when they are at your disposal?
Scott Laughton - ostensibly acquired to be the Leafs third line centre - played left wing and led the team in offensive zone faceoffs last night. That makes sense.
Berube coaches as if he has an expansion team. He seems unaware of the talent at his disposal. He should not deploy his best players in a defensive role, especially at home. I guarantee you that the Panthers were overjoyed at his bonkers strategy.
If you are the home coach and you are not finding ways to play Auston Matthews against the other team's worst players, that would be like hosting a baseball game and insisting on batting first.
In addition, the Leafs did not dress Nick Robertson or Alex Steeves (who is in the minors) and since scoring goals is their biggest problem, this is another reason why last night's loss is on Craig Berube.