After a travel day on Friday, head coach Sheldon Keefe discussed the performance of the David Kampf line in Game 2 and preparation for Games 3 and 4 on the road inside a tough building to win in.
You mentioned a couple of times last night that the team has to be better in Game 3. In what areas do you think the team can be better?
Keefe: I think there are a number of things. Your execution could always get better in all areas. Obviously, their forecheck pressure will continue to be a major focus of the series, and our ability to get through that.
We took two penalties in the first period that we would like to minimize or maybe even give them one. We gave them a freebie there. There are just little things like that where you can get better.
It is more making the general point that we are going out on the road now and it is going to get harder. The mindset for us should be nothing other than continuing to get better. That is just what is going to be required.
We hear a lot of talk about how the game changes in the playoffs. Much does it change in series through Games 1, 2, and 3? Does it get more intense and difficult the deeper you go?
Keefe: I think there is definitely a lot to say about that. I think things just level off. There is a lot emotion that goes into playing in the playoffs. Maybe that leads to some of these games going the way they have gone for us in Games 1 and 2.
I don’t know if that has necessarily been the case in other series. I haven’t been able to watch too much. Just looking at some of the scores, they don’t necessarily seem to be the same as what has been happening in ours, but when the emotions are really high, you tend to have big swings that way.
Things level off. You just go into each game expecting that it is going to be your typical playoff-type game — one goal swings it either way. Any play at any time could make the difference. That is how you go into every game.
Sometimes, it breaks open the way it has here. Certainly, our mindset going in every night — and tomorrow, in particular — is that it is going to be a grind. Prepare for that.
What did you think of the work the David Kampf line did last night and how they can take it forward to Game 3?
Keefe: That is a really good question. Those guys, to me, made a big difference in the game last night, especially relative to where they were at in Game 1.
I thought it was a real issue for us in Game 1 that a line like that one, which we have come to rely on as much as we have… They did such a good job for us in the regular season. You are trusting them and putting them in similar spots to come through. They didn’t [come through in Game 1]. It puts a little more heat and throws you out of rhythm in other spots, matchups, and deployment.
Last night, I thought those guys played really well. The goal they scored is a great example of what we need and what can be a major difference-maker for us in that you put them out in the defensive zone against the opposition’s best players. They drive the puck down the ice, bring it to the net, and put one in for us. It essentially puts the game away for us. That is a great example there.
The other lines were really good, too. O’Reilly gave us a really good night. That helped tremendously. For me, when the Kampf line is going like that, it allows a lot of other things to happen for us. It is going to have to remain that way.
Tampa’s fourth line has been very good in these two games that we have played. We are going to need more of that from Kampfer for sure.
When Corey Perry is having the impact he has so far, do you talk to your guys about needing some restraint around him?
Keefe: We talk about it all the time. After the whistle, you can’t give this team free power plays. Certainly, Perry, in particular, has the ability to kind of raise the temperature. Throughout his whole career, he has found a way to get those calls to go in his favour.
He is as good as anybody in the league at it. He can stoke the fire, and yet he can come out the other side of it somewhat unscathed. With him, in particular, we have to really toe that line.
But those guys have done a good job during the play, too. It is not just after the whistles. They have done a really good job for their group. Like we were talking about with Kampf with our team, when that line is playing like that for them, it really helps them — especially now that they are going back with home ice.
We have to do a good job against those guys for sure.
How important is your previous experience in Tampa’s building?
Keefe: All that stuff helps for sure. I do think each season is a different experience, though. We have to treat it as such.
Obviously, we are going into this in a different spot here. Last time, we were heading out on the road and coming off of a loss on home ice. These are the different emotions you are managing throughout the playoffs. That is what I am talking about with us having to continue to get better here knowing that it will certainly get harder.
There are still moments in that game last night. Whether it is early in the game when they were coming and carrying the play for a good part of that first period… The first period was really a pretty even affair if you take out the special-teams situations, whether it is the power play goal, the 6-on-5 goal, or the faceoff goal. In open play, it is a very even game in the first period there.
We are very mindful of that. We know that they will be better. Things will get harder. Whether we have had experience there or not, we have to have the right mindset to make sure we are continuing to get better with our game.
What did you say to maybe help assuage the pressure the team was under after their Game 1 loss and help them respond the way that they did in Game 2?
Keefe: Because things went so sideways the way they did and so unexpectedly, it was somewhat easy to get the team back refocused. It was not like we played a great game and just got overwhelmed. It was a game that we hadn’t played in quite some time.
It caught a lot of us off guard — myself included. We had played at such a high standard, and you obviously expect that to continue to rise rather than go the other way. It’s just reframing it, showing them where we fell short, and countering it with what we look like when we are at our best.
Sometimes, when you get pushed the way that we did in Game 1 and get embarrassed like that, it can kind of snap things back into place. I think it was somewhat easy for us to do that. We have great confidence in our group to be able to respond to that situation.
As I say, it is a whole other challenge now going out on the road. We are in a best-of-five series, and we don’t have home ice now. That is kind of the reality of it. We have to make sure that our group is recognizing the urgency continues to rise.
