Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers that improved the Leafs’ record to 44-19-5 on the season.
On the team’s performance:
We got some really good opportunities in the third period and made good on them. We did some good things, obviously, leading to the Matthews goal. We didn’t win many shifts today, but that was one we did a good job on. We had the puck and had them really running. It leads to an empty net. Those kinds of things we capitalized on really well. The Rielly goal was similar.
It was not a very good hockey game by us.
On Jack Campbell’s performance in his first game back:
He looked like Jack. I loved the way he played tonight. That first period, especially in the first 10 minutes, were a disaster by us in front of him. The saves he made early in the game — that is Jack at his best. It was really good to see. It is great to have him back.
On whether there is any concern about the performance despite the result:
I take Jack’s performance for what it is. It is somewhat separate from what is happening. His job is to be there when things break down. Certainly, they did break down.
Am I concerned about it? We have played really well when we have really been pushed by top teams, and tonight in the third period. Obviously, we want to do a better job in these games. Tonight, we just didn’t have it, so that is disappointing.
I would say disappointing for sure, but not concerning in the sense that I know what our team is capable of doing. Perhaps that is maybe the problem: they know what they are capable of doing.
Let’s give some credit to Philadelphia. To me, they played an excellent hockey game tonight and made it really hard on us. We maybe showed up for an easy game, and they didn’t give it to us. They made us look bad there for a while.
On Wayne Simmonds’ first goal in 33 games:
That line didn’t get a lot of ice today. Simmer is playing with lots of energy and passion. It is a big goal for us at that time. Great fight at the end.
I thought that line was a lot like the rest of our team tonight.
On Nick Abruzzese’s debut:
He made a couple of plays with the puck that were really impressive – the poise that he had with the puck to relax under pressure.
It is a tough game for a guy like him to play tonight. It is a fast-paced game. They are coming quickly, and we are on our heels for a lot of the game. We never really got control of it. He is the kind of player who would play a lot better and feel a lot more comfortable if we were really rolling as a team. We weren’t.
He was put in a lot of tough spots today. I don’t know how many faceoffs we had in our own zone tonight, but it was way too many. As a result, each line was really starting at a deficit a lot today, or we were just passing over lines.
He made some plays today that I really liked to see. Obviously, he is going to get better each time out.
