The Maple Leafs aren’t done yet. What does Craig Berube do now?

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“Let’s f—ing go. Let’s go.”

Max Domi appeared to mutter those words to Matthew Tkachuk off a centre-ice faceoff in the second period of Game 5. The Panthers had just upped their lead to 3-0, effectively burying the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tkachuk refused to engage with Domi. Twelve seconds later, Domi slashed Tkachuk and was called for his 11th penalty in 11 games this postseason, the most — by far — of any Leaf, and the most, in fact, of any NHL player this spring.

Out-coached in this series so far, Leafs head coach Craig Berube has plenty of decisions to make to try to save his team’s season. Among them is whether to play Domi at all in Game 6 on Friday night.

Domi took three more minors after the Tkachuk slash in Game 5: One for holding and a double minor for roughing. He was also handed a 10-minute misconduct to close out the evening.

All this only a day after Berube pulled Domi aside for a brief chat after practice, a chat that presumably would have (or should have) stressed the need for discipline in the face of Florida agitation.

Berube has stood by Domi all year, even through multiple goal droughts that lasted more than 20 games during the regular season and the worst (even with Ducks’ centre Ryan Strome) penalty differential of any forward in the league (minus-16).

Domi won Game 2 for the Leafs in the first round with the overtime winner and was helpful with a goal and an assist in Game 2 of this round against the Panthers. But overall, he’s hurt his team more than he’s helped with lacklustre defensive play, limited offensive pop and those damaging discipline issues.

Domi has taken at least one minor in six of 11 games this spring. He has essentially been the team’s fourth-line centre versus Florida.

So what, if anything, will Berube do about it? The Leafs coach didn’t scratch Domi at all during that tumultuous regular season. Is now really the time to do it? Scratching Domi to send a message wouldn’t serve much purpose at this point.

Scratching Max Domi to send a message wouldn’t serve much purpose at this point. (Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)

The reason to do so would come down to the Leafs coaching staff believing that Domi will, once again, hurt the team more than he helps with the season at stake by crossing a line.

Berube wouldn’t rule out the possibility of sitting Domi after Game 5.

At issue is whether the Leafs are better off doing so. Namely, do they have anyone worthy enough to take Domi’s spot in the middle of one of those bottom-six lines?

The easiest option is Pontus Holmberg.

Pull him out of the press box and slide him into Domi’s place between Nick Robertson and Bobby McMann (assuming both wingers keep their spots in Game 6). Holmberg won’t take the needless penalties that Domi has and he’s a much safer option defensively, which matters more on the road in Florida. He also won’t deliver even a whiff of the potential offence that Domi can bring.

Another option if the Leafs coach were to scratch Domi: Move Scott Laughton back into the middle and then bring one of Holmberg or Calle Järnkrok back in to play alongside David Kämpf and Steven Lorentz.

Lorentz – Kämpf – Järnkrok
McMann – Laughton – Robertson

There’s no good option here really. And that’s why playing Domi and hoping that he can keep his cool and maybe help score a goal will probably be the route that appeals most to the Leafs and their coach.

Scratching Domi, to make clear what will and won’t be tolerated, needed to happen earlier.

What of McMann? He has zero goals and one assist in 11 games this spring. But again, it’s the lack of a more appealing alternative that probably keeps him in.

Berube probably has to hope, once more, that McMann, Domi and Robertson can break loose for something offensively in Game 6. The trick will be doing it on the road where the Panthers can press the Leafs’ weak spots — i.e., that line.

That’s what Florida’s head coach, Paul Maurice, did in Games 3 and 4.

And it’s with that in mind that the Leafs coach has to reconsider — again! — shaking things up in the top six. Berube opted for more of the same on his top two lines in Game 5 and it backfired, particularly with a top line that was run over by their counterpart almost immediately.

Maurice is bound to chase the same matchups that gave his team success earlier in the series: Aleksander Barkov versus John Tavares and Anton Lundell versus Auston Matthews.

Knowing that, do the Leafs pivot? They should consider it.

If the Panthers are going to pin Barkov and Sam Reinhart, two Selke Trophy finalists this season, up against Tavares’ line, Berube might want to send Mitch Marner there in place of William Nylander.

The hope would be:

A) That Marner brings a steadier defensive presence to the line, thereby limiting the offence of Barkov and Reinhart.

B) That Marner, who has four five-on-five shots all series (one less than Holmberg), finds more of a shooting mentality playing away from Matthews.

C) That Nylander, freed of the Barkov matchup (and maybe Gustav Forsling on the back end as well), can create opportunities for himself and Matthews.

To keep the same top six would mean to assume that Tavares, Nylander and Max Pacioretty can overcome Barkov’s crew in a way they couldn’t in Games 3 and 4, and that Matthews and Marner finally click when it matters.

Again and again, the idea of the Matthews-Marner combo has been more tantalizing than the actual postseason results.

It was only during the 2019-20 season under Sheldon Keefe that the two stars began playing together and while they weren’t always a combo in every postseason, when they were, it didn’t really amount to much — as far as Marner to Matthews goals were concerned.

Here are the number of assists for Marner on Matthews’ five-on-five goals in the past six postseasons, including this one.

Matthews hasn’t scored a ton of five-on-five goals in that time, but that’s kinda the point.

Will swapping Marner for Nylander do the trick when the Leafs need it most?

Berube is admittedly not a fan of the Matthews-Nylander pairing and scoffed at the idea that line combinations had anything to do with what transpired, or didn’t, in Game 5. He made changes midway through the game, he said, and nothing happened.

However, at that point, the game was already over. It was too late.

Berube isn’t wrong though that it will take a far more determined effort for his stars and everyone else, with little to none of the overthinking that plagued the team in Game 5, regardless of who plays with whom.

“We’ve got to do a better job of creating more high-danger shots than we did last game,” Berube said on Thursday morning. “Now I’m not saying don’t shoot the puck, but shoot the puck and then get into the inside for a next shot and a rebound and things like that.

“We have to do a better job of making life more miserable on their goalie.”

One player has done that: Matthews.

He leads the Leafs with 10 high-danger shot attempts at five on five in this series, double the next closest Leaf (Nylander).

The problem, of course, is that he hasn’t converted in this series or the one before it: Matthews is 1-for-18 shooting the puck from high-danger zones in the playoffs. Those 18 shots are in the NHL’s 99th percentile this postseason, unmatched essentially.

Auston Matthews’ postseason shooting. (Courtesy NHL EDGE)

Now more than ever, the Leafs need the goals to follow.

They could also use everything that Tavares has left. The Leafs’ second-leading goal scorer during the regular season has only one five-on-five point, a goal, in the series and only four high-danger shot attempts.

Berube planned to address the team as soon as they landed in Florida on Thursday afternoon.

His message: “You have to skate and you’ve got to compete. Take thinking out of it. Go play. Be aggressive.”

— Stats and research courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, NHL EDGE, and Hockey Reference

(Top photo: John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images)

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