Berube after another blowout loss: Leafs 'getting a little cute'

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube expressed frustration with his entire roster following Thursday's 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues.

"Our whole team is getting a little cute," Berube told reporters, including Sportsnet's Luke Fox, postgame. "We just gotta play direct.”

Berube was coaching against the Blues for the first time since they fired him last December, about four-and-a-half years after he led them to a Stanley Cup championship.

The Maple Leafs outshot the Blues 41-27 on Thursday and won 68.3% of the faceoffs. However, St. Louis held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes on goals by offer-sheet acquisitions Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway.

Toronto defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson got his club within one in the second period, but Alexandre Texier capitalized on a Leafs turnover to restore the Blues' two-goal advantage less than two minutes later.

Berube wasn't happy with his team's effort on that one.

"The third goal is just not doing things right and it was lazy hockey," he said, according to TSN's Mark Masters. "That's the bottom line."

"We're just losing coverage," Berube added. "We're not helping each other out in the coverage areas. (We're giving) too much time and space on some of ... them instead of being physical and closing plays out."

Jake Neighbours tallied an insurance marker early in the final frame after Maple Leafs forward William Nylander coughed up the puck in Toronto's offensive zone.

"My play was stupid there in the third period," the star forward said. "Gotta be better than that. ... At that point in the game, (losing) 3-1 (with) 17 minutes left, there's still a lot (of) time … got to be better situational awareness on my part."

Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll made his first start of the campaign, which was supposed to take place in the Leafs' season opener until he was ruled out due to injury. He gave up four goals on 26 shots in defeat, while his counterpart, Jordan Binnington, made 40 saves en route to victory.

Toronto (4-4-0) suffered its second consecutive lopsided loss after falling 6-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on the second half of a back-to-back on Tuesday. The Maple Leafs hit the road to face the Boston Bruins on Saturday night and then the Winnipeg Jets on Monday before coming home to host the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 31.

The Blues improved to 5-3-0. They were playing the first tilt of a four-game road trip that will continue in Montreal on Saturday.