º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍø

And Craig Berube has only been “around here’’ for one season. These are the veteran coach’s first playoffs behind the Maple Leafs bench.

Berube is a lunch-bucket, no-nonsense guy with a throwback sensibility. But he can’t possibly truly grasp how sags the spirit in º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøor the twitchy dread of his longest-tenured players on a team that has watched a 3-0 lead in the opening round of the Atlantic Division series lurch into a 3-2 sinkhole of anxiety.

The Leafs are still in the driver’s seat against Ottawa as everybody yammers on about the fourth win being the hardest. It does feel, however, like the Senators are behind the wheel of the getaway car, all jacked over twice fending off elimination. Now they have the Leafs right where they want them – shook up, grappling with demons and maybe hell-bound for a pitiful 1-14 record in close-out games come Thursday at the Canadian Tire Centre.

“We’re a team and it’s on the whole team, not just four guys,’’ Berube was saying the morning after.

Four players — Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander — collectively account for about $47 million (U.S.) of the Leafs budget. Salary doesn’t necessarily equate to effectiveness in what has been a hard-fought wrangle between these two clubs. But surely it’s not too much to expect Toronto’s best players to be Toronto’s best players in the post-season, grab themselves by the throat and channel some of that signature Leon Draisaitl fire, a refuse-to-lose vehemence.

Going on a decade now, and only once surviving an opening series, none of these stars have made a defining mark in the playoffs. All the pieces around them have changed, as the brass has tried to inject a knockout factor into the roster. Even the brass has changed. This season, so did the coach, handing the reins to Berube.

And this moment is where he earns his pay, justifies the faith placed in him by GM Brad Treliving, yanks his players off the fainting couch.

Perhaps only an outsider to the Leafs culture can suss out what ails this lot. Why Marner, with his gaudy 102 points in the regular season, has only one goal to show for the series, and ditto for Nylander, the second-highest goal scorer across the league in the regular season. Why Matthews has likewise been held to one goal; a probable injury doesn’t excuse it. Why the Leafs are 0-for-30 in power-play opportunities in potential series-clinching games. Why they misfired their way through a double-minor advantage in the Game 4 overtime and flutzed a slew of breakaway chances in Game 5, to say nothing of Matthews’ ghastly turnover that led to another short-handed goal for the Senators.

It’s up to Berube to calm these roiling waters and stabilize his squad, both structurally and mentally, though he seems not to have much patience with psychological analyzing. He’s not Coach Freud and the knock-kneed past doesn’t weigh on him. Which is why he hasn’t belaboured the issue. “That’s not going to help me or them.’â¶Ä™

The Leafs have tried hard-ass coaching and new-wave coaching. They’ve gone marquee coaching and NHL greenhorn coaching. None of it has made a damn whit of difference.

Berube needs to lance this playoff boil pronto. He projects no unease and shrugs aside that whole playoffs-past business. Certainly he gives no hint of panic.

“My job is to try to get the best out of every player and the team, to the best of my ability. That’s what I try to do daily. We’re up 3-2 still in the series. We went in there and won a game already. So we’re capable of doing it and I have a lot of belief in this team.’â¶Ä™

It should be noted that Berube saved his accolades for Toronto’s hustle-bustle fourth line. Their hockey style is very much in his own wheelhouse. “They work and they hound as a unit and that’s why they have success. That’s the bottom line with that line. It’s constant pressure, checking, work.’â¶Ä™

If only that intensity would rub off on everybody else.

“I think we can have that mentality more as a team, for sure. You want to score goals in the playoffs and you want offence and you need it. But you have to have that work mentality and that checking mentality.

“Checking’s not just playing defence, checking is offence. You check for your chances, you get on the inside, you work and hound. It creates turnovers from the other team. It creates chaos for the other team. We can do a better job of that as a team.’â¶Ä™

There’s a platitude about hockey: While a coach can impact every facet of the game, it’s ultimately in the hands of the players on the ice, regardless of the outside noise and stress.

“The only pressure they have is to their own teammates, in my opinion.’â¶Ä™