Core Four talk doesn't change as Maple Leafs again will try to eliminate Senators

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The broken record is getting a workout.

Craig Berube hasn’t been on the job as Maple Leafs coach for a full year and he sounds like he has had his fill.

We’re talking about the Leafs’ core, of course, and its annual inability to find a way to make a difference in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The questions, rightfully so, have roared into focus again now that the Leafs, after taking a 3-0 series lead, have lost two games in a row against the Ottawa Senators heading into Game 6 of the Battle of Ontario.

Twice the Leafs have had the opportunity to send the Senators to their respective tee times and twice they’ve failed.

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We asked Berube on Wednesday to what degree he was contemplating lineup changes for Thursday night’s game in Ottawa. There aren’t many options — we’re talking about Nick Robertson or David Kampf coming in at forward, and possibly Max Pacioretty coming out — but Berube said the options will be discussed.

Even if changes are made — and we don’t think that should include inserting Joseph Woll in place of Anthony Stolarz in the Leafs net — isn’t it on the core players to make it all work in the Stanley Cup playoffs?

“It’s on everybody, the team,” Berube said, cutting off the present media. “I get it. It’s all I hear around here is core, core, core, the core four.

“But it’s on everybody on the team. We’re a team, it’s on the whole team, not just four guys.”

Hate to break it to Berube, but the core has been the constant for close to a decade, so of course the overall performance of the group is going to dominate conversation.

Changes have been made in the general manager’s office, behind the bench, in goal, on the blue line, and in the group of depth forwards.

Captain Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and the fifth core member, Morgan Rielly, have been here for all of it.

All of the post-season disappointments, with just one, in 2023, delayed until the second round after the Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning. Following that rare advancement, the Leafs couldn’t handle the Florida Panthers and were dispatched in five games.

The latest failure in an elimination game came on Tuesday in the Sens’ 4-0 victory at Scotiabank Arena. None of the core could say they left it all on the ice.

What was Berube’s message, specifically to Matthews and Marner, who were on the ice for all four goals against?

“Stay with it,” Berube said. “But there’s things that we can do better offensively that we need to look at and go and do them.

“They defended well and they did a lot of good things in the game, but there’s more there. That’s my job, is to try to get them out of it, and their job. We’ll discuss it as a team and go over things, and we’ll be, hopefully, better.”

That’s where the core has to come in and lead in that manner. Berube concurred with the idea that the intensity of the line of Scott Laughton between Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok is something that he would like to see rub off on the rest of the team.

“I think we can have that mentality more as a team, for sure,” Berube said. “You want to score goals in a playoffs and you want offence and you need it.

“You have to have that work mentality and that checking mentality. Checking is not just playing defence. Checking is offence. You check for your chances. You get on the inside. You work and hound. It creates turnovers from the other team. It creates chaos for the other team. We can do a better job of that as a team.”

We go back to the core — it should be the group that sets the example. Laud the Laughton line all you want, as it’s deserved. But it shouldn’t be the video of that trio that Berube calls up during preparation meetings and says to his team, “This is how it has to be done.”

Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares are paid millions upon millions of dollars to make those differences all the time, not just in the regular season.

The Leafs didn’t go on the ice on Wednesday at the Ford Performance Centre and only Berube, Rielly and Laughton were made available to media before the club travelled to Ottawa.

Laughton, having been acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in March, is getting his first close-up look at how the Leafs’ leaders operate in the playoffs.

“I’ve been really impressed with the leadership here, how bad guys want to win and how bad they want each other to do well,” Laughton said. “That has stuck out to me. And being in the present moment. Guys haven’t looked too far ahead or anything like that. I appreciate that. Guys want to win here.”

Can success be wanted too badly?

“I don’t know,” Laughton said. “That’s a good question. But we’ve talked about pressure and you embrace this and take it from there.

“It’s cliche, but that’s what it takes in the playoffs, little things, (such as) line changes, that you don’t really see. It goes a long way for our group.”

The Leafs are in this position, leaving themselves open to criticism and questioning, partly because they haven’t wanted it badly enough.

At the same time, we don’t forget that the Leafs had a 3-0 lead in the series. They haven’t been dominated. They’re capable of winning and they’re capable of finishing the series in what will be a hostile Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night.

“We’ve been in this spot before,” Rielly said. “I think there’s comfort in that. There’s no reason to panic.”

Feel free to press that panic button, though, if the Leafs lose Game 6 and it comes down to a Game 7 in Toronto on Saturday night.

Any chance of success is going to ride on the shoulders of the Leafs’ core, as it always does.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun