Sheldon Keefe, Toronto Maple Leafs practice
Sheldon Keefe, Toronto Maple Leafs practice
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After practice on Wednesday, head coach Sheldon Keefe discussed Mark Giordano’s veteran leadership and high rate of blocked shots, the current momentum of the team’s goaltending tandem, and the challenge upcoming against the Rangers and Capitals on the road.


Practice Lines – December 14


Mark Giordano is top 10 in the league in blocked shots and is tops on the Leafs. What does it say about him and what kind of role does that kind of element play in helping the team win games?

Keefe: First of all, he has made a career of doing things like that or doing what the game calls for at that moment and leaving it all out there.

He is obviously a huge part of our penalty kill, which is where a lot of those situations would present themselves.

We have talked about it a lot. His will is off the charts. He does whatever is required to keep the puck out of the net.

Do you ever think about where you would be as a group without Giordano this year with all of the areas where he has been able to help stabilize things, especially with so many guys missing from the lineup?

Keefe: Gio has been unbelievable. He stepped up in a big way for us. He has been huge in so many ways — not just on the ice, but in the room and all of those things.

All of our guys have stepped up. If we have learned anything through this, it’s that no matter who you lose out of your lineup, the group can take care of one another.

I don’t think it about in those terms, but we are, of course, grateful for the fact that we have him here. His leadership, his tenacity, his competitiveness, and his intelligence on the ice are all things that help us win games.

How important is it to have a 1A and 1B up and rolling in net, pushing each other on to win games?

Keefe: I think it is huge. This is how we had envisioned it playing out in terms of both guys competing for the net, both guys giving us confidence and chances to win games when they play, and having them push one another.

With two guys to rely upon, if they are both playing great, it is excellent, but if one guy is struggling, the other can pick him up. If one guy is hurt, the other one can pick him up. No matter what it is, you have the support there with two guys.

Let’s be honest, Erik Källgren has played a lot of hockey for us as well and given us chances to win games. Really, we’re three, and then you look at Joe Woll, who is coming back healthy and getting into the swing of things here.

I feel like we have great depth in goal. I know there were a lot of questions, of course, coming into the season, but for me, it was nothing but excitement about having the chance to work with these guys and see what they can do with their talent and experience.

There is a lot of hockey to be played, but we are thrilled with what we have gotten from them.

What does it do for the confidence of the team knowing that one of the two guys is going to give them a chance to win every night?

Keefe: I think it is great. It gives you confidence no matter what the situation. If you make a mistake, they are going to be there.

To me, the best part of it is that we are not relying on it necessarily. Our players are doing a great job in front of them, and then if we do have a crack, they are there. That is why we are on the run that we have been. You are not going to play perfect hockey. Even though we are playing great defensively, we are going to need goaltenders to make saves for us. They have, and we have come to rely on and expect that.

Our players haven’t taken it for granted. We are out there until the final buzzer last night coming back to our own end, winning pucks back, and outnumbering the opposition consistently all over the ice. Our commitment to doing that has been very, very solid. Everybody looks better in an environment like that.

How do you fill any cracks when things are going so well and ride the line of coaching the team and making adjustments?

Keefe: I have to remain consistent in terms of what the expectations are. We have plenty of examples here now. It is a big enough sample of us doing great things that our guys know what it looks like and what it feels like when we are playing at our best. They know that I know what they are capable of, and that they can meet the standard.

It is just about upholding that and reminding them when needed. At the same time, having trust and belief that if it does slide, they can bring it back.

Last night, I look at it as such a terrific example of that. Our first period was not great. We gave up a lot in that first period. We talked in between periods in the intermission and asked the guys to tighten things up — make the conscious and aware of despite the fact that we were up 2-0, we had really given up, in a lot of ways, nearly a game’s worth of scoring chances and nearly a game’s worth of shots. The rest of the way, we were excellent in that area.

That just shows that our players now are learning and feeling their way through how to make those adjustments and just get back to their game.

When you reflect on this recent run of success, what are the points you’re fine-tuning throughout games — especially looking ahead to tomorrow night against the New York Rangers?

Keefe: You are always monitoring every area game-to-game. Amongst our coaching staff, we assign different areas to each guy and make sure we stay on top of the details of our game and address it accordingly.

In today’s meeting, we had three or four different things that we showed and wanted to focus on that we thought were important to clean up from last night — and also how they might connect to tomorrow’s game in terms of our ability to break out and spend less time in our own zone. The Rangers are a team that really spends a lot of time in the offensive zone and is very effective at moving around there.

And then you are just showing the things that we have been talking about that they executed at a high level. It is just staying on top of it, and as much as we are talking about these things, we don’t just settle for that. We are setting up tomorrow.

We are setting up this road trip. We are playing against two very good teams here on the road in New York and Washington. It is four in a row for the Rangers and five in a row for Washington that they have won. This is going to be a tough trip for us and a tough challenge — one that we have met here consistently for quite some time, but it doesn’t make it any easier going into tomorrow. We have to make sure we are focused on taking each day as it comes and be prepared to be at our best.

Speaking of Washington, Alex Ovechkin just hit 800 career goals. How much of a nightmare is he for a coach?

Keefe: He is a guy where, if you make a mistake, it is going to end up in your net. You have to be as close to perfect as you can be both at five-on-five and especially on the power play.

You have to be conscious of him and take away his ability to get his shot off, or at least try to push it outside of the dots and take away some of the angles he can release it from.

There are also some of the pieces that happen before the shot. If you can kill those before they happen, the shot isn’t there and isn’t a threat.

There is lots of stuff within that, but you don’t score 800 without making a few coaches look bad along the way. You just have to be really sharp in your details. I thought we did a good job of that against him earlier in the season, but he is heating up now and feeling good, as is their team.

We have the Rangers to focus on first, and they are a handful.

What is the plan in net for the next two games?

Keefe: Murray will go tomorrow, and Samsonov will get Washington.