Craig Berube’s long history with the Philadelphia Flyers does not take away from his strong desire to beat them Sunday night.
The second of a weekend back-to-back and first of a home-and-home against the Flyers will be a physical and mental test for his Maple Leafs against the rested Flyers.
You could say Berube was born to play and coach the team once known as The Broad Street Bullies. He was their undrafted signing, debuting March 22, 1987, with two fights against Dan Frawley of the Penguins. It took Berube a couple of years to earn a full-time role on the team before a series of trades sent him to Edmonton, Toronto, and Calgary, the latter as part of the 10-player Doug Gilmour deal.
After retiring in 2004 following his last stint on Philly’s farm team, he took the Phantoms coaching job and eventually succeeded Ken Hitchcock with the parent team in 2013. In two seasons, Berube won 75 games but lost the only playoff series the club qualified for. He was dismissed, but landed in St. Louis, paying off with the 2019 Stanley Cup.
“You look back and Bob Clarke and Paul Holmgren were really the two guys who really huge in my career,” Berube said of the Flyer legends. “They gave me an opportunity to play, first of all, brought me back a second time and then to coach.
“They are at the forefront and have done a lot for me. It’s a great organization, Mr. (Ed) Snider was a great owner.”
The current Flyers are a work in progress under coach John Tortorella. Their record since Dec. 1 is 5-8-1, but much more is needed to make a move in the standings to a wildcard playoff seed. They’ve improved their offence of late, despite rookie Matvei Michkov slowing his torrid rookie points’ pace.
Once more, goaltending is their weak link, with Samuel Ersson, Aleksei Kolosov and Sunday’s starter, Ivan Fedotov, all with save percentages lower than .890.
“Very hard-working team, very competitive, probably one of the fastest teams you will see in transition, defence to offence,” Berube cautioned “They get up the ice very quickly.”
Forward Owen Tippett has points in 13 of his past 15 games, to make up for the drop in Michkov’s offence, two points in 10 games since Dec. 12 as San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini stalks the latter for the league’s rookie scoring lead.
The Atlantic Division-leading Leafs are making no lineup changes from Saturday’s 6-4 home win over Boston, other than the predictable switch in netminders to a fresh Dennis Hildeby from Joseph Woll.
No need for subs is great news as far as top scorer Auston Matthews is concerned, the captain having no adverse effects from his lingering upper-body injury after playing his first game since before Christmas against the Bruins.
Winger Max Pacioretty will play in his 15th consecutive game, the 36-year-old overcoming any doubts he could remain an everyday player after long stretches rehabbing his own injuries. When not scoring — he has no points the past three games — Pacioretty is being physical.
“It’s really hard to contribute there and offensively,” he noted. “It’s like you have two different personalities on the ice when it comes to poise, making plays, scoring goals and then playing with a ton of energy, trying to create time and space for your linemates.
“You can’t look around the league and see a player who does that consistently. It is a tough job, I do think I have to balance it better.”
A Jake McCabe goal on Saturday left Benoit and recent addition Philippe Myers as the only Leaf defencemen not to score this season.
“Me and Jake had a running bet, first to score got $100,” laughed Benoit. “So I just lost. But when we can contribute it’s fun.”
Benoit and the other blueliners are more likely to get assists on goals by the high-flying Toronto offence; Matthews, Matthew Knies, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, especially when they find a gap in defensive coverage.
”They’re so good at that when they see openings,” Benoit said. “They take it, so you have to keep your head up for giving them a stretch pass. You don’t want to lose a man in your D zone, but when (the pass) is there, you have to keep looking for it.”
The game will mark the 41-game halfway point of the season for Toronto, which has been weathering injuries such as Matthews’ mystery upper-body ailment. The Leafs play almost every other day until late January.
“You know it’s going to be a fight, we have a tight schedule,” said Benoit. “It’s part of the business, you play 82 games and you just get used to it.”
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