Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after his team’s 2-1 overtime win over the Florida Panthers which improved the Leafs’ record to 48-21-11.
On how the team navigated a game against a desperate opponent:
I thought we did a great job. We did our best to make it mean a lot to us in terms of our effort, our preparation, and all of that. I liked how our guys stayed with it.
You’d like to win this game in regulation, but it is a desperate team on the other side. I thought we did a nice job. We made that one mistake in the third period and they scored on it, but aside from that, we really didn’t give them very much. There wasn’t much happening up until that point.
I liked our effort today. I liked that we found a way to get the second point.
On whether he was surprised John Tavares had the energy on a long shift late in OT to finish off the game-winner:
A little bit. He was kind of standing in the middle while they were doing the merry-go-round all around him there. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and chalked it up as a good strategy by him.
On Matthew Knies’ NHL debut:
I thought he did a good job. I thought the pace didn’t faze him at all. His feet were moving. He made some smart plays with the puck. There were a couple of mistakes out there, but I think some mistakes are good. You can learn through that and adjust your game, which I thought he did. I thought he did a nice job.
Listen, it hasn’t been easy for him in terms of what he has been through with not just the devastating loss that they had after such a long season but the turnaround he had to get here. I don’t know how much he enlightened you about that, but his day leading up to the game and then getting here in the arena… When I went to go talk to him before warmup, he was still talking to doctors and going through all the medical stuff that they have to do.
You can’t just show up and play in the NHL. There are a lot of hoops to jump through and clear in terms of the medical process. Normally, it is done in training camp. He had to go through all of that stuff here today, and he had to travel a good distance to get it done as well. It is not an easy day for him both today and yesterday.
I thought it was a good effort from him. It is nice to be able to get him in and get him involved. I thought the guys really supported him tonight.
On whether he learned anything new about Knies’ game:
I don’t think so. You know his game pretty well. You have watched him play a lot. You have read a lot of reports. You have talked to a number of people that have followed him very closely over the last couple of seasons.
To see it in the NHL in what was really a playoff-calibre game tonight in terms of intensity, competitiveness, and urgency of every play… To see it live, he looked like a guy that was comfortable despite clearly not being comfortable as you are making natural adjustments.
I thought he did a good job.
On Ilya Samsonov’s performance:
Outstanding, obviously, with the way he battled and competed tonight. He really commanded our team in a game that doesn’t mean a lot to us in the standings and means a lot — everything, really — to the opposition.
It was a true test of our commitment, the character, and the togetherness of our group. In terms of battling and being committed to the job tonight, nobody exemplified it better than Ilya. He was awesome.
On Erik Gustafsson’s status after the last-minute scratch and if he could be available for tomorrow’s game:
He tweaked something in the warmup. He was just a little jacked up there and couldn’t go. We had to call in Luke.
It is going to be a day-to-day thing. We will see how he wakes up tomorrow.
On Jake McCabe’s absence for the first half of the third period:
He just had to get some stitches.
