The Toronto Maple Leafs were swept by their division rival Detroit Red Wings in the season series, capped off with a 2-1 overtime loss on Wednesday night.

It was a pretty even tilt for most of the game, until Detroit eventually took over on the shot clock in the third period before capitalizing on a mistake made by rookie Easton Cowan to win the game in overtime. Cowan carried the puck out of the Red Wings’ zone to try and regroup before being muscled off the puck by Red Wings defenceman Moritz Seider, leading to a 2-on-0 and the eventual game-winner by Dylan Larkin.

Speaking to the media postgame, head coach Craig Berube maintained his support for Cowan and chalked up his mistake as typical for a rookie in the NHL.

“I thought he made some really good plays tonight,” Berube said. “You know, he does good things, and there’s things he’s got to do better. Typical young player in the league. There’s plays where he’s got to recognize that there’s nothing there and make a strong play. But, he makes plays. He made some good plays tonight again, and that’s normal, young guy and where he’s at. Got to get stronger, better decisions at times.”

Berube threw his support behind goaltender Joseph Woll after a rough performance on Monday night against the Minnesota Wild, one that saw him allow five goals on 24 shots and get pulled after the second period. The move paid off in the end, as Woll stopped 39 of 41 shots despite the loss. Berube spoke favourably about his goaltender’s performance following Wednesday night’s game.

“Great response by him,” Berube said. “I thought he was really good, you know, made a lot of good saves. Good saves on their [Detroit’s] power play, overall, he was really good. Gave us a chance to win tonight.”

The Maple Leafs will look to turn the page quickly and focus on Friday night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights, a game that has been circled on the calendar for much of the season. It will mark Mitch Marner’s first game back in Toronto since signing with the Golden Knights, and the Leafs will be hungry for two points after coming as close as one can get to picking up a win in the first meeting between the two on January 15. Despite the circumstances surrounding the game, Berube says that his team will be treating it like any other game.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with Mitch or the electricity in the building. We just need that same mindset we had tonight. I thought our guys were competitive tonight. We’ve got to go into every game that way right now.”

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