Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings which dropped the Leafs’ record to 45-21-10.
On the status of Matt Murray after leaving the game injured late in the first period:
I have no update. We will get you for you probably on Tuesday.
On whether it was the spotter or the medical staff that pulled Murray from the game:
I am not exactly sure. I was told it was mandatory that he had to come off of the ice.
On what went through his mind when Murray went down with another injury after battling injury multiple times this year:
I don’t know. It was in the hands of the trainers. They’ll deal with it. He’ll bounce back, and Sammy will go.
On how he views a loss like this one given a number of players were resting:
It is a game that we don’t play well enough to get a favourable result. We didn’t start well. We got behind early. We made a couple of mistakes that ended up in our net. They made a couple of mistakes, and their goaltender made saves.
That was the story of the first period. We missed a breakaway and a penalty shot in the first period. Even though we had given up a bunch, we probably deserved to have more than we had.
From there, Detroit had the lead, and I thought they defended extremely hard. We didn’t generate much of quality at five-on-five. We had lots of shots and puck time, but we weren’t able to get much going to the net.
In terms of where I put it, I put it as us losing a game on home ice, and that is not acceptable any time.
On whether he was surprised that Michael Bunting was assessed a 10-minute misconduct at the end of the second period:
Surprised? I mean, based on the way that he has been officiated of late, I am not surprised at all. That is part of it.
Bunts has to do his best to stay on the line. In terms of how he has been officiated, Kyle will deal with that with the league.
On how Bunting is navigating the treatment from the officials:
He eats three crosschecks, and he ends up taken to the box with it. He had four or five punches to the face in the scrum, and he ends up with a 10-minute misconduct.
It is tough for him. He has to find his way through that.
Kyle will deal with the other stuff and see what we can get done there. Bunts has to be able to stay focused and keep playing.
On Conor Timmins first game in a long time:
It is a tough ask of him. He hasn’t played in a long while. He is playing on the off side.
I thought he made some plays. I liked that he played with confidence. I liked that.
On the decision-making process behind the penalty shot taker in the first period (David Kampf):
Just a feel thing. The first thing is just some clarity on whether it had to be guys that were on the ice or not. Obviously, we had some good options on the bench.
In terms of the guys on the ice, Kampfer was excited for a chance to go. That was kind of what you are looking for. You are reading some body language. Who wants it? Who is looking at the ice versus who is looking at you?
Kampfer wanted it. He had a good plan. It just got away on him as he got too tight to the goalie.
On whether he would like the option to take a two-minute power play instead if the rule were to ever change:
I would love the option, yeah. I am not saying you take it in that case, but there are lots of times in games where I think you would take that option.
On Ilya Samsonov’s performance in relief:
It’s a back-to-back. He is put in a tough spot here today. He battled and made some big saves for us.
He was sitting cold with no action in the third period, and all of a sudden, there is a tough rebound to handle there with a guy in tight. It was tough there.
I thought he gave us more than enough opportunity to come back in the game. Their guy at the other end was really good, and we didn’t do enough with the chances we did have.
