Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers that improved the Leafs’ record to 5-4-2.
On the team’s performance:
It was better. I thought we had good legs. I thought we moved the puck much better here tonight. I thought we had the puck a lot and did a lot of good things. We were in control of the game pretty much from start to finish despite them scoring first. I didn’t think it rattled us.
The power play responded really well to get us even, and then we got a big performance from our captain and a lot of good efforts from a lot of people.
On John Tavares’ performance:
I liked that he scored three goals. It is a big night. They are important goals, right? At 1-1 in the first, he shoots one in the net for us. The second goal is big-time stuff. It is a big moment in the game. They had just made it 3-2. With everything that has been happening with our team here, you are trying to get a win and manage tight games.
We were talking on the bench that we wanted to keep pushing. For a little bit there, I don’t want to say we were on our heels, but we were just sort of playing safe and defensive. We certainly needed to play with intelligence, but we needed to continue to push and play on their half of the ice.
I loved, in that situation, he drives it deep. It is a good spot to take on a defenseman right there. You trust your skill set to do so. It is really deep in the zone. He takes him on. Big-time play to execute and pretty much put the game away for us.
On the team’s response after Philly made it 3-2:
That is what you are looking for here today. You are not going to come out and play a perfect game tonight. You want to start to build positive momentum as a group. That’s how we wanted the game to go: build positive momentum, trust that our game would be good enough to put us in a spot to win, and not do anything that was going to take away from that.
There are some parts I don’t like about the first goal that we gave up or the penalties that we took tonight. Aside from that, there is a lot to like about the game.
On Mark Giordano’s response to Travis Konecny attacking Auston Matthews:
Loved it. It is another huge moment in the game. In the situation, that is what the game called for in that moment. Gio is a leader. He has been in the league for a long time. He is an absolute competitor. He is not known as a guy who is going to fight or anything like that, but he is an absolute competitor.
In that moment, he is in there sticking up for his teammates. Even before that, Auston is in there competing and sticking up for himself. That has happened a couple of times now and our guys have responded appropriately in the moment. That is another really positive thing to come out of it.
Those are the kinds of things that help build your team a little bit closer. It is great to see.
On Ilya Samsonov’s performance and save at the start of the third period:
Huge save and a huge moment in the game. I thought there were maybe three or four infractions on the faceoff by the opposition, but it is the kind of play that caught us off guard and the officials as well. We had to call on our goalie there.
This is a tough game for our goalie to play in. You are not getting a lot of shots and there is not a lot of activity on our half of the ice. Sometimes, in games when you are not getting shots, you are still in your own end having to track the puck and having to move. In the game, there were long periods of time where he is standing in the net and waiting for the next save.
For him to make a big save at a key time and so early in the period shows us that he was sharp and ready in that moment. Those are the kinds of things you need to do. We have talked about owning each moment that comes your way as a team and individually. I liked that part of his game tonight.
On John Tortorella calling Keefe a terrific coach who doesn’t deserve the heat he’s receiving:
It is not the first time Torts has spoken his mind. Listen, you appreciate it. I certainly don’t need it. I know what my job is and what I need to do. I certainly appreciate it, his career, who he is, how he handles himself, and how he speaks his mind on whatever the topic is. We’ll just leave it at that, I guess.
On Pontus Holmberg’s NHL debut:
I liked him. When the puck was on his stick, a lot of times, he looked like a guy playing in his first game and trying to get comfortable. The number of penalties really took away from any sort of rhythm in his game, but I really like him as a player.
He is a guy I am happy to get in here, get him involved, and have another natural center. From what he has shown me, I think he has a future in the league. To get him here and get him involved is really good.
We will see, as each day goes, how it all fits and how it all works, but we think we have a good player there that is going to play a role for us this year for sure.
On Zach Aston-Reese scoring his first goal of the season:
For me, he has gotten better each time out. We have taken him out of the lineup here and there for not anything he has or hasn’t done but just trying to get other people involved. We can see him sort of gaining some traction here.
With all of these guys going in and out, they haven’t necessarily done anything wrong; it is just that they haven’t made a statement to say, “I should absolutely be in this lineup and the team needs me to do this for the team.” I think he is taking steps toward that. Today was a really good step in that direction.
He knows who he is, he knows what his job is, and he goes out to give you everything he has to execute that. Today, a goal came with it, but there were a lot of little things that go with it, too.
