Craig Berube’s vision of hockey demands the puck go one direction. You know the one. “North” is among the coach’s favourite words.

A mere five weeks into the six-month slog that is the NHL season, the Maple Leafs head coach has been tasked with figuring out why his team has gone south.

In some ways, it’s too early to get alarmed. The Leafs head into Saturday night’s game in Chicago, their 19th of the season, sporting a .500 points percentage and they are just two points out of a playoff spot. In a parity-rich NHL , it’s not as though they’ve dug some unescapable hole.

The problem is the Leafs have been gifted a relatively favourable schedule to date, and the key stats are getting ugly. They’re the worst defensive team in the league at 3.84 goals against per game, more than a goal a

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