Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 6-4 win over the Boston Bruins that improved the Leafs’ record to 42-19-5 on the season.
On his team’s effort:
I would say “complete.” Obviously, we gave up a couple of late ones in the third, and we don’t want to do that. I just thought we didn’t give up a lot and managed a few of the strong pushes that they had. Otherwise, it was a real patient game. We took advantage of the opportunities that we had.
On Petr Mrazek leaving the game after eight minutes:
It is tough. We already have Jack out, so you see that and it is tough. Petr has been getting some traction here and had been playing well. It is tough, but he has been through these kinds of things before. We don’t know the severity of it. We will get a greater sense of what the situation is in the coming days. It looks like he is going to miss some time.
On Justin Holl and Ilya Lyubushkin leaving the game and their possible injury timelines:
Hard to say. Both guys took [hits] to the head — one a punch, one a puck. They held them out tonight. We will have to get them assessed in the coming days.
On how the team handled Boston’s chippy play:
I thought we were fine. I thought we held our ground. I thought we stood in there and continued to make plays.
Part of that side of it that came out at times was in response to us pulling away in the game and being in control. I thought it was a good job by our guys to make the game that way, and we just continued to play.
I liked that we went most of the third period without even giving up a scoring chance in response to that. There wasn’t really a whole lot of life in the third period right up until the very end.
Our guys did their job. It was a tough period for us with four defensemen. We talked to the forwards about taking care of our D in terms of taking care of the puck and slowing down the pace of play. We had some forwards in line to go and take some shifts on defense there, but every time I looked down, the D looked comfortable. It didn’t seem they needed it. I talked to Dean, and he didn’t feel they needed help back there.
Good job by those guys. It was because of the fact that we didn’t have any long shifts on our half of the ice or anything like that. It was pretty well managed for our guys in terms of dealing with those four defensemen.
On how the team’s fourth line played with Blackwell in the middle:
I would have to watch the video back just to get a sense of the d-zone coverage. It is really only d-zone coverages where you are playing center. Otherwise, you are not really playing positions.
That is what I liked best about that line. They were on the forecheck a lot. They scored us a huge goal early in the game. They spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. I liked the line today for sure.
I don’t know how much Blackwell ended up playing center necessarily, but the dynamic of the line gave us the response we were looking for.
On the anticipation amongst the team for Auston Matthews hitting 50 goals:
I think we have been for some time. He has been setting an incredible pace here with how he has scored and how consistent he has been. He is right there, obviously. If I know Auston, he is just going to continue to play and not get too focused on anything else. He is too good for the chances and the goals not to continue to come.
