Maple Leafs bumble way to 5-1 loss in Berube’s first game against Blues since firing

By The Associated Press

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube, center top, stands on the bench during third-period NHL hockey game action against the St. Louis Blues in Toronto, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Nathan Denette]

TORONTO (AP) — Craig Berube ran a gauntlet of emotions Thursday morning. The Toronto Maple Leafs coach was poised to face the St. Louis Blues — the team he led to its only Stanley Cup in 2019, and the one that fired him last December — looking for a bounce-back performance following an ugly effort two nights earlier. Berube was all smiles, evening joking with reporters that he didn’t know the location of his championship ring. The feeling was decidedly different at the final buzzer. Berube cut a disappointed figure after Toronto bumbled its way to a 5-1 loss.