Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 6-5 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators, dropping the Leafs’ record to 11-3-2 on the season.
On what happened after the Leafs went up 5-1:
What I saw really started before 5-1. I thought we were just really careless and sloppy with the puck.
On what led to the sloppiness:
It is just something that has been creeping into our game. I thought that the nature of the way the game was going… It wasn’t everybody, but I think there were enough guys. We just gave the game to them at a time when they really had nothing happening. They only got what we gave them.
On how big of a setback this loss is defensively:
I really didn’t have much issue with us on the defensive side today. Everything that we had against us was sloppy play with the puck that led us spending more time in our end than we needed to.
The goals were the same kind of thing: carless. Two shorthanded goals where we were careless with the puck and the situational awareness was poor. I thought we did an excellent job killing a penalty, and then we broke a stick right at the end. That one, to me, is just a little unfortunate.
We exposed our net a little bit at 6-on-5 too much. I mean, their goals are one thing, but how we were playing was discouraging and definitely a step back for us.
Whether we won the game today or not, I said after the second period it was as bad as I’ve felt about a 5-2 lead, probably, that I’ve ever had. We had a talk with the team about cleaning things up for the third period. I thought we were in the right frame of mind, and we give up a shorthanded goal. It makes it tougher than it needed to be.
I actually didn’t mind our third period in terms of how we played at even strength, but you give up a shorthanded goal and a four-minute power play with a careless high stick, and it gives them a chance to stay in the game. A shorthanded goal, a power-play goal, and a 6-on-5 goal for them — that, obviously, is the difference, but we opened up the door for that stuff to occur.
On the message going into Wednesday night after this collapse:
Credit to them, they were resilient. They stayed right with it. Everything they got today, we gave them.
On the plans for Alex Galchenyuk:
I have no real plans. It happened right before game time, so we haven’t talked too much about it other than… What I would say is that he is another depth option for us to come in. We have been looking to find the mix in our bottom six there. I think he is one of those guys that will compete for a spot like that. It gives us added roster flexibility given that he has cleared waivers and that kind of stuff. We have flexibility there and it helps our depth.
