Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Monday night, improving the Leafs’ record to 26-17-7 on the season.
On the team’s performance:
I liked that through different periods of the game, I thought we did a really nice job of doing the things we wanted to do. I had a pretty good sense going in that it wasn’t going to look pretty all the time in a game like this. You’re not really sure what you are going to get coming off of that type of break. All in all, I thought we executed well enough, obviously, to score enough goals to put us in a good spot. I liked parts of our game and other parts we want to make sure we continue to grow on, for sure.
On Rasmus Sandin’s first NHL goal and his poise since rejoining the Leafs lineup:
I am pumped for him to score the goal. It was a big goal for us at that point in the game as well. I am not surprised by the poise. I have come to expect that from him. I think we all have. He showed that through training camp and through his first recall as well, I think. He has filled in really nicely for us and fits in well, too, with how we want to play. He puts the puck into our forwards’ hands very well and keeps the offense moving.
On Jake Muzzin’s return from the Marlies in his first game back after his conditioning stint:
The guys were giving him a little crap for that after the game, saying it was a great recall. He got the ball after the game here. It’s good. I talked to Muzz about that situation and we just felt it was a good situation for him to knock the rust off like you inevitably have to do. It makes a little more sense to get it down there rather than here. Today is another step in that process for him. We got him a lot of minutes again. He’ll continue to get better the more comfortable he gets.
On Jason Spezza’s goal to make it 4-1 just after the power play:
It was a great goal by Spezz at the tail-end of that power play there. He has done a real nice job for us on the power play, but that is just coming out of the power play. Hollsy did a really nice job putting the puck to him in a good area there. He made good on it. That was great.
On how the loss of Kasperi Kapanen affected the lines:
We had to move things around a little bit, which kind of disrupted our flow a little bit, especially to start the second period without Kappy. I thought that hurt us there. We’re not sure exactly how he is. He clearly wasn’t good enough to come back. I am told the X-Ray is negative but we’re just going to have to see how it feels in the morning.
On what happened with Kapanen that caused the injury:
From what I was told and kind of what I saw, he went to finish a check and kind of missed the check and made some contact with the glass. That was it. It was a freak type of thing.
