Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 2-1 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning that extended the Leafs’ winning streak to four and improved their record to 6-4-1 on the season.
On the team’s performance:
I didn’t like anything about our first period. We were a little shy in the first period. We didn’t assert ourselves at all in any way in the game. I thought we made some adjustments going into the second period. I liked a lot of things about our second period. We didn’t get rewarded with a goal, so you are still trailing.
We fully expected Tampa to lock it down in the third period. We have seen that a ton from them through their successes in the playoffs. They did exactly that. We didn’t have a whole lot happening in that third period other than good goaltending to keep it at 1-0. That gave us a chance.
The guys stuck with it to the end. Ultimately, our best guys through 6-on-5 and the power play got a chance to win it and redeem themselves of sorts from that 5-on-3 early.
On the Sergachev headshot on Marner:
I watched it a couple of times quickly on the bench. Any time you are coming from the blindside, that is a tough one. I thought the refs made a call on it. I am sure the league is going to look at it. That’s about all I have for you on that.
On the message to the team before the power play in overtime:
The main message from me, other than some tactical things from Spencer: I thought we were really slow with it in the first period. I thought that was, frankly, reflective of how our entire first period went. We were just slow in everything that we did. The power play — we have talked about how they’re connected, five-on-five and power play. Everything is connected.
The message in that spot was to not pass our way through looking for the perfect shot. We need to shoot and attack the net and be assertive on it. As it turned out, we ended up finding the perfect shot and we finished it there.
These are the kinds of things where we have to recognize those key moments, especially in the first period. After a tough period, you’d like to see us take advantage of an opportunity and pounce on that. That is an area that we need to improve upon.
It was, frankly, really reflective of the way we played in the first period. We just weren’t as sharp or as quick as we were in our game before against Vegas. That was disappointing for me. I really liked how we found ourselves in the second.
In the third period, both teams are playing hard and defending really hard. With the combination of some good fortune and saves by Jack in the third period and also because of how we played in the second, we were still hanging around in that game. You give yourself a chance to get one point and ultimately the second one.
On the third and fourth lines providing positive momentum in the game:
Especially in that second period, those guys were going. I didn’t think we were getting a whole lot out of our top two groups today. That is why we mixed it up a little bit. We just tried to get something moving there.
Those guys had some opportunities. Simmer got in behind and got a good look there a couple of times. I thought Nick Ritchie had some really good shifts for us, got in behind their defense, and made some plays. There were some good things happening there for sure.
Like I said, I thought we found our way into this game, worked our way through, and gave ourselves a chance to get points. We feel good about getting them, obviously, but we will enjoy a day off here now and know that we have to be a whole lot better with Boston coming in here.
On John Tavares finding his game of late:
I didn’t think he or his line had much happening here tonight. But there is just the confidence of him when he got a chance to get it to go in for him. It wasn’t going for them early, but that is a big-time shot that he scored there tonight. That is not an easy shot to get that into the top of the net on the far side with the pass coming from that angle. That is what he is capable of doing.
He has been getting rewarded because he has worked. I thought he worked hard and competed hard tonight, but there just wasn’t a whole lot of offense available. It is nice to see him get that. As his confidence continues to grow, it is going to really help us offensively.
On whether a come-from-behind win against a team like Tampa is a major building block:
I think there are a lot of positives that come out of this. There is the fact that we were able to pull two points out of it, the fact that we found ourselves to really push back in that second period despite… To me, I thought we had some really good chances in that first period where we got around the net and had some really good looks, but in terms of how the game flowed from shift to shift, I thought we just had nothing happening. I thought, from that perspective, it was as poor of a period as we have played in the season.
The fact that we had to regroup ourselves and find another gear in our game — I like the fact that we did that. That third period is a miserable third period. They are locking it down. They are defending hard. I think there are a lot of things we can take away from what we saw from the back-to-back champions tonight in that sense. I also just like that our guys remained committed to it right to the very end and found a way to make sure we get one point and then into overtime, where anything can happen. Luckily, it worked in our favour tonight.
On the struggles on the 5-on-3, and whether it’s a case of tactics vs. instincts:
The five-on-five play, how you are playing, and how engaged you are in the game — the puck comes off the stick differently. You are snapping it quicker. You are assertive. You’re confident. We didn’t have that in the first period at all. As much as I wish it went differently, I wasn’t surprised how the [5-on-3] went. That is just how our period went. It was just slow. We didn’t take charge. We weren’t assertive. That is exactly what happened on that 5-on-3.
It was disappointing because we worked on special teams yesterday. For that group, they didn’t do any 5-on-4. They only did 5-on-3. To have that be their response tonight in a key moment, we didn’t like that. Again, it was just reflective of how we weren’t connected or dialed-in in the first period.
There are the tactical pieces, but the instinct and the skill need to come alive in those moments. Without that, you can have any tactics you want, but you are not going to be successful.
On Jack Campbell’s huge saves in the third period:
What stands out is that he didn’t get a lot of work in the second period — especially in the second period — and not a whole lot happening in the third period until, all of a sudden, we were really trying to push, find our way through a tight neutral zone, they’re defending hard, and they counter. All of a sudden, here comes some of the best players in the world in alone on you. The game is essentially on the line. That just speaks to Jack in terms of his mindset of standing in there and keeping our time alive in that moment.
That is just a tremendous sign. We don’t want to put him in that position, obviously, but it is great for him and his confidence. It further instills the belief we have in him in terms of his ability to have our back and give us a chance.
On the challenge coming up against Boston, who he has never coached against before:
I have watched them a ton. I have seen the Leafs play against them a ton. There is lots of history there. It is another team that plays extremely hard and plays extremely tight. They’re great on special teams.
Their top players are very good in all regards of the game — all areas — much like you see here tonight with the top players on Tampa Bay. Those guys just play hard. If you make mistakes, they make you pay. I think it is pretty similar in that sense. Boston has been doing it that way for a long time.
