‘I’ll Take Them Out For Dinner’: Craig Berube Praises Maple Leafs Video Team For Catching Offside In Win Against Islanders

The Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders traded successful challenges in Toronto’s 3-1 win on Tuesday.

Islander defenseman Adam Pelech thought he tied the game early in the second period, only to see Toronto quickly challenge the goal. New York was determined to be offside after a quick review and it remained a 1-0 game.

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube had no doubt.

“It was offside for sure right away. We had that before they even scored,”  he said.

Toronto’s video team led by Jordan Bean and Sam Kim have a high success rate of spotting plays with Toronto that able to be challenged via review. They came up big on Jan. 19 when they helped Toronto not lose their lead in a game against the Calgary Flames when they were able to spot a missed stoppage that prevented Calgary’s equalizer from showing up on the scoreboard.

Related: ‘Those Guys Are MVPs Of Our Staff Every Day’: How Video Coaches Jordan Bean and Sam Kim Saved the Maple Leafs From Losing Their Lead Against the Flames

“Those guys are MVPs of our staff every day,” then-head coach Sheldon Keefe said at the time,

Berube was thankful for the quick thinking again on Tuesday and was jokingly asked if they’d get a holiday bonus.

“We’ll take care of them,” Berube smiled. “I’ll take them all for dinner.”

The Maple Leafs also had a goal take off the board via video review. Matthew Knies, mired in a bit of a slump as of late, scored a nice goal after a third-chance effort at the net. It turns out Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin had no chance because William Nylander was in the blue paint at the time.

“I thought, maybe could have went both ways. But, you know, it’s interference,” Berube admitted. “He gets pushed in a little bit, but he could have stopped. And I thought I would get called back.”

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