Sheldon Keefe spoke to the media following his team’s 2-0 win over the Calgary Flames on Saturday night, the Leafs’ first regulation win in six games and Jack Campbell’s second straight shutout performance.
On the importance of scoring the first goal:
Yeah, it’s really important. It’s difficult to play from behind. We got a big goal to start the game. I don’t think we gave up very much in that first period, so to get out of it up one is really important.
On Jack Campbell’s performance:
I thought the was really good. As the previous question stated, he didn’t get a great deal of work in the first, which is probably a good thing for him and us — gives him a chance to adjust back to playing. I did think we gave up a couple of pretty good looks in that first period that they ended up missing the net on.
It was a really good sign that he looked like he was in good position and ready for those shots, even though they missed the net. He looked really confident and solid, so that was a good sign. He was solid on the easy shots that hit him from a distance, and then just the competitiveness really showed on the ones where we had breakdowns and he had to find a way to make a save.
On how the goaltending situation will look going into Thursday’s game against Ottawa:
[It’s] not unlike what we’ve been going through here as of late. We’ve got to, with all our goaltenders, see how they are, Jack included. Andersen tonight, for example, wasn’t able to back up for us, so we’re going to have to watch out for his situation. With Jack, of course, we know what he’s been through here, so there might not be much of a decision to be made for us. The goalies themselves, based on health, will make that determination for us.
On changing up the lines before the game and giving Wayne Simmonds a shot higher up the lineup:
I was just really looking to establish the ability to set up four lines that I’d be comfortable playing. I thought it was important for us tonight to play four lines somewhat equally, especially early in the game. I thought that was going to be really important for us.
I think it paid off in terms of giving us legs, so that was a big part of it. I thought Wayne did a good job for us and showed that he’s ready to play. He played yesterday, but he didn’t get a lot of minutes, so I thought he had more in the tank that way.
A lot of what he brings — I think there’s some similarities there to how Hyman plays. I thought about putting Hyman back in that spot, but I really liked the ability to have Hyman lower in the lineup and what that does for our depth, so I thought we’d give Wayne a shot there. Obviously, he had played really well with Tavares and Nylander, but I was encouraged by what I saw from Galchenyuk, so I didn’t want to mess up that line.
On whether Andersen re-aggravated his previous injury before the game:
I wouldn’t say re-aggravated. It’s just something he’s been dealing with.
