Craig Berube publicly shames one of his forwards following big loss to Rangers

Craig Berube always has a fire lit under his belly, and the Leafs coach was not holding back following a brutal loss to the Rangers, dragging a player under the bus.

The Toronto Maple Leafs fell 4-1 in an underwhelming showing against the New York Rangers on Saturday night. The entire team had a bad game offensively, but head coach Craig Berube called out one player after the game. He's frustrated with how forward Pontus Holmberg has been playing lately. Even though Berube wasn't pointing any fingers and saying it was all Holmberg's fault, it was pretty evident the young forward wasn't going under the radar for his lack of impact.

Berube made clear the team's offense, as a whole, needed to be better. He cited a number of different areas where the forward group came up short and said better execution was necessary to compete at a higher level. But when asked about Holmberg's reduced ice time, Berube didn't mince words in his honest evaluation of a player he felt had been struggling for some time.

Holmberg had a tough night on the ice that was hard to look past. He only played 11 minutes and 18 seconds, quite low for a player in his position. Adding insult to injury, Holmberg took a brutal penalty and was a minus-1 in the game, adding to the fact that his presence was decreased on the ice. There was no getting around the fact that his mistakes had placed him on the wrong end of his coach's judgments.

It's nothing out of the ordinary when players fall out of favor with a coach, and that's what Holmberg is in. Whether the public critique by Berube will start to get Holmberg to elevate his game remains to be seen. Coaches do this often to try and elicit a response; the outcome is going to depend on Holmberg taking the critique and elevating his play.

It will be a real test when the Leafs resume their homestand Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. All eyes will be on Holmberg to see if he can bounce back and earn more ice time, or if Berube's frustration will linger. Either way, the Leafs will need a stronger overall effort to turn things around.

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