After practice on Sunday, head coach Sheldon Keefe discussed the emergence of Matthew Knies, Ryan O’Reilly coming as advertised in the playoffs, Luke Schenn holding down a regular spot in the top six on defense through three games, and preparing for Game 4 after stealing a win in Game 3.
You opted to put Matthew Knies out for the last minute at 6-on-5 in Game 3. How did he earn that trust from you?
Keefe: He has shown well. He has shown that he is a guy who can make a play and be a difference-maker. The reality is that he was coming off shortly after. John Tavares was quite tired from his previous shift. Knies got the edge there to give John a little bit more time.
He was in the mix to play that late in the game because of the way he has played. He looks like a guy that can make a difference.
How impressed have you been with his comfort level making plays and handling the puck?
Keefe: Super impressed all the way through. It is one thing to have the confidence and belief in yourself that you can make plays. It is a whole other thing to make plays.
Some young guys come in and want to simplify or whatever maybe because they don’t have the same ability. If they try to go outside of that, they are going to be exposed.
He has really put himself out there. He has made plays. He has made some mistakes, but we have veteran, established players who make mistakes, too. It is all part of it.
We have liked so much of what he has done — not just in the two playoff games, but what he has done in the playoffs carried over from what he showed in those three somewhat meaningless regular season games at the time. The fact that he has continued with it has been impressive.
When you look at the line that he is on with O’Reilly and Acciari, do you ever reflect that six or eight weeks ago, you didn’t have any of those guys on the team?
Keefe: Yeah. I never thought of it in that light, but obviously, it is well-established what O’Reilly and Acciari bring to us. That is partially why they are paired with Knies — because of the fact that they can take care of him, and if he is going to make some mistakes, they will help cover up. It can allow him to be free and confident out there. Both guys talk a lot.
It has been a good line for us. Like a lot of our other lines, they spent a lot of time in our end last night, but at the same time, it is a huge goal to get us going on the scoreboard early.
Knies got in behind when we didn’t have a lot happening in the second period. He found a way to get in alone in behind their defense at the end of the second there. In moments like that, he looks like he is a guy that is going to make a play for us.
Ryan O’Reilly was so calm after the tough Game 1. What has he meant off the ice to this group?
Keefe: It is huge. It comes a lot through his personality and a lot through his experience. The team that we are trying to beat here has a team full of those guys. That is the reality, right?
That is where a lot of the confidence comes from. Once you have won, you have that extra swagger and confidence about you. You don’t get rattled or fazed. It is just different. The more you can get of those kinds of guys, I think it is important.
Through not just his experience but his ability on the ice, Ryan can match all of that and bring all of that to the table. We knew he was going to be an important member of our team. He certainly has been in this series thus far.
What can weathering Tampa’s best and coming out on the other side with the win do for the team’s psyche?
Keefe: It should give us extra confidence and make us feel good for sure. As I talked about after Game 2, we have to play better than we have. That is really it. That is where the focus has to lie again here today.
We like that we stuck with it. We like that we didn’t break. We didn’t make major mistakes or compound mistakes to the point where we made it easy on them to score. Of course, Sammy was excellent, but we didn’t let them really build the lead.
Some of that is goaltending. Some of that is the guys defending hard and competing. Some of it is good fortune and luck. All of those kinds of things go into winning playoff games. That helps our guys for sure.
The focus for us is that we have to play better than we did last night. It just continues to get even harder.
What was your sense from Curtis Sanford as to how Ilya Samsonov was able to rebound after Game 1?
Keefe: Lots of confidence. Those guys have a great rapport. They have been working well together. I think they have found solutions and common ground when things don’t go well on how to kind of reset and get back to work.
Curtis himself is as steady as they come. He is not an emotional guy. He just does his work and is confident, but he doesn’t get too positive or negative. He tells it like it is and keeps it very even-keeled.
Our goalies really feed off of that. Certainly, Sammy has.
Is there a reason why Samsonov hasn’t been available to the media after the past few games?
Keefe: Have you been talking to Vasilevskiy at all through the series?
… Let him just play goal.
What have you liked from Luke Schenn’s play through three games that has made him a permanent fixture in the lineup so far with the competition around him on the defense?
Keefe: He is another guy whose experience and confidence is really shining through. He has defended very strongly.
Obviously, we know the physical presence that he brings. He has also made plays and moved the puck very efficiently for us, too. These guys that we have added — with the veteran experience — has really been beneficial for us for sure.
What have you thought of Auston Matthews’ line’s play at five-on-five?
Keefe: I look at last night as an example. On a night when Tampa is taking it to us pretty good, that is our one line that has their heads above water. To me, when they were on the ice, they were doing good things. They were carrying play. They were getting us on the offensive side of the red line.
It was obviously a huge goal that they scored for us in the first period. On that note, as I watch it back, up until the Matthews goal yesterday, I loved our start to the game. I thought we were excellent. If we can duplicate that, we will be in good shape.
That line, on a night when it was hard for us to tilt the ice, seemed to be able to do it pretty consistently. To that end, obviously, they are a major focus of the opposition. It is a real challenge for them. I think they have done fine.
