Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals that dropped the Leafs’ record to 19-7-6.
On the team’s performance:
I thought we had an excellent second period and didn’t get rewarded for it. We didn’t finish our chances. They scored 10 seconds into the third. It is a tough climb from there.
We had a dominant second period. I mean, dominant. I don’t know how many grade-A scoring chances we had, but at the very least, it should have been tied going into the third, if not us in the lead. We didn’t make good on our chances. Their goaltender was good. We didn’t bear down.
You let the game hang around, and as I said, it is tough playing from behind. It is really tough when you come out for a push in the third and you’re pulling it out of your net 10 seconds in.
On whether he contemplated an offside challenge on the 4-2 goal:
We had a sense that it could’ve been offside. We were lacking certainty. We didn’t want to guess on it. We wanted to get one more view. Normally, every 10-20 seconds, a new view comes in.
We called a timeout. It afforded us one more view. We got the view we wanted, but it turned out it was a skate blade away from it being offside. It wasn’t good enough to challenge.
On the effectiveness of the five-forward power-play unit:
The first one was a little bit broken. It was interrupted by the intermission. The second one was good. We got some pucks to the net and got some good shots out of it.
On whether Ilya Samsonov’s emotions in his return to Washington might’ve played a role in his performance:
I didn’t get much of a sense. I don’t spend a whole lot of time with the goalies on game day, especially. You can understand why it would be a bit of an emotional return for anybody in your first time back. But you have to go through it. You can’t avoid playing here forever.
He has played a lot of good hockey for us. There were some tough bounces around here tonight, but we didn’t take care of the puck well enough, either, especially on goals three, four, and five.
On whether teams are well-prepared for the Leafs with the attention they were getting during their recent points streak:
I don’t think it has anything to do with us. We are playing New York and Washington. As we talked about before the trip, these are two teams that had their own streaks going and are feeling good about themselves. They are good hockey teams.
On the physicality of the game:
They have a few guys that certainly play hard and finish their checks. Aside from that, I don’t think it was overly physical. But their guys who are physical were [physical].
On Conor Timmins’ six points in six games, the progress he’s showing, and what he needs to work on going forward:
There are lots of things he needs to work on, but he plays with his head up. If you are a forward and you get your stick available, he is going to find you.
He has been a really nice addition. You can see the difference it makes with a guy who just finds sticks and finds plays for us on the offensive side of the red line especially. He has really helped us that way. He has been getting rewarded and his confidence is growing.
