Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 5-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings that improved the Leafs’ record to 4-4-1 on the season.
On getting the two points despite shaky play with the lead:
We need to get results. We had some games earlier in the season where we played really well and didn’t get results. Those don’t feel very good. To get results is good for sure, but as we see with the way the third period goes — with them continuing to get back in the game and continue to push — it was not nearly good enough.
On the team’s start to the game:
The first 10 minutes to the game were really strong. We had lots of control. I really liked our first 10 minutes for sure. I thought we got stalled a little bit in the latter part of the first period up until probably the last few shifts. We ended up scoring, obviously, and it was a huge goal for us.
Our start was good. I liked a lot of things about that for sure. That was very positive. I liked parts of our second period, too. There were some good things happening within our game for sure.
Maybe part of it is just we haven’t had the lead late in games enough this season, but we have more than enough experience on our team that we should be better than that in terms of handling it. Lots of good teaching points for us coming out of this.
To get the win and to be able to use it as a chance to be better the next time out — to get used to playing with leads and get comfortable with it, which is really a staple of any good hockey team — we’ll take it.
On the play of the Tavares line:
I thought all three players had real strong games. All three guys played with speed, made plays with the puck, were confident, and were competitive in loose puck battles. John Tavares was all over it tonight. That’s two games in a row now that Mitch has really been strong coming through the neutral zone and on entries with his confidence on the puck.
Kerfoot, also, in two games now has been really strong. It is great to see that line get rewarded tonight. I thought all three players were dialed-in in all areas of their game. Offensively, defensively — I thought they were dominant.
On the new defense pairings:
I really liked Sandin-Liljegren in the offensive zone. They did a number of really good things for us. Those guys looked confident. You can see the chemistry they have with each other. They played a lot of time together in the American league and played together in the NHL before. They’re good friends. I like that.
I thought it was Muzz’s best game of the season here so far. I liked that pair with Brodie. Mo has been strong for us all season. I think Dermott paired well with him tonight as well. I liked the way that flowed for sure.
I thought we had a number of guys who had strong games tonight. I just think, in the third period, you need to be really connected, really focused, and really purposeful with how you play when you have the lead. We didn’t have enough of that.
The win should feel better than it does, but let’s not kid ourselves — it’s hard to win games in this league. We are not going to stress about it too much.
On the potential of Muzzin-Brodie together:
It is something we did for a little while last season, but it was something that we were curious about through most of last season. Both players are very strong defensively. They are obviously veteran guys. They have seen a lot in the league. We just didn’t get to see a lot of it because we stayed healthy for most of the season. Our top four last season was pretty strong and we were going pretty well as a team all the way through with Muzzin-Holl and Rielly-Brodie. We didn’t change it much.
They haven’t spent a great deal of time together, but it is something we have been curious about for a long time. To get another look at it here tonight is a good thing. The timing for it was right, as we have talked about, with just needing to try some different things with our group.
In terms of what we can get out of it, we will see. It is not just that pairing. It is also how it affects the other pairings and who plays together. As we look ahead into next week, we have some very strong opponents with deep forward groups coming in. That presents some challenges. It is going to force us to look at it a little bit closer.
On Mitch Marner’s breakthrough with his first goal of the season:
Huge. Two really strong games where I thought he has been really dominant with the puck and really confident and comfortable. We know he is a playmaker. He is a distributor. He has done a nice job to help his linemates come alive and get better. We saw last game with John and the goal he scored off of Mitch, and obviously, it was Kerfoot to John today. Mitch just also was all around the puck even when the puck didn’t go in the net.
It is one thing to do that. It is another thing to just see a zero there by your name. For him to get that tonight is big. Those are the types of goals that seem to go in for you when things seem to fall in place. I think we’ll see more of that from Mitch here in terms of his confidence continuing to grow.
On Jake Muzzin still being critical of the team’s game after winning:
I think it is just his personality. You guys have known him long enough now to know he is not going to show you very much in here, whether he is playing great and the team is rolling, or not as much. I think that is part of Jake.
This is a guy who has won the Stanley Cup. He has high expectations and high standards of himself and of our team. They haven’t been perfect games by any means, but it is four points now in the last two games as a team. The fact that we have had players come in and you can sense that they still know we have to get better and work to improve — I look at that as nothing but a positive.
On what the top power-play unit can learn from the second unit’s success:
Today, we were almost running out of time and both units were a little ugly, and then they finally just shot one in — a good spot, and they tipped one in. If you actually look at it and go back, Auston made the very same play into William and it just didn’t quite connect before the second unit had a couple of sloppy entries and finally found its way to that look we were trying to get.
But I think the second unit, when they go out, they play within the structure with how they want to play. When you are on that second unit, there is a little more urgency to everything that you are doing because you usually don’t get as much time.
There are all of those kinds of pieces, but we only had the one power play tonight, obviously. Detroit made it hard on some of the entries, which just makes it tough. We also lost the faceoff to start with. I wouldn’t judge too much off of tonight’s power play in terms of what we saw from our first unit. We will focus more on what we saw in the game the other night.
The fact that our power play found a way to score a goal for us is huge.
