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After Friday’s practice, Sheldon Keefe discussed the season-opening shootout win over Montreal, John Klingberg and Ryan Reaves’ first (regular season) games in a Leaf sweater, and the game against Minnesota on Saturday night.

Practice Lines – Oct. 13

As you reflect on the season opener, what can you take forward from the way the team finished the game despite it going against you at different times throughout the night?

Keefe: It’s a great reason why we come away feeling good about the game with the result of two points. It allows you to come out of it looking to fix the mistakes that we made in a better light. You are feeling better about yourself. It doesn’t change the fact that there are things to clean up.

With all of that said, when I look at the game, watch it all back, and break it all down, for me, we did a lot of really good things in the game. They were spoiled with some big mistakes — big momentum game-changing mistakes. It took away a lot of the good things that we did.

I think those things are fixable — very fixable, in fact. We will give them their power-play goal, but all of the other goals that we gave up were either unfortunate or unlucky in terms of some of the gaps that we had or just structural pieces that we got right a lot in the game, but at key times, there were mistakes that they made us pay on. We can fix that.

Was the season opener a case where the game didn’t look as bad on video as you thought behind the bench?

Keefe: Exactly. We had a lot of really good sequences carrying play and doing a lot of good things. We have one or two things that are glaring errors where you lose momentum or lose control. Things kind of slip from there.

That is sort of what happens in our game. You make mistakes, you open the game up for the opposition, and now you tend to be on the ice tired, defending tired, and you make mistakes within that. There are some things for us to clean up for sure, but there was way more good in the game than I was frankly expecting coming out of it for each line.

What do you stress when it comes to playing a team in Minnesota that is going to be a little more structured than Wednesday night?

Keefe: That in and of itself will make the game different and feel different. Historically, these are the kinds of games where we have responded in kind in terms of our own structure, details, and all of these kinds of things. I would expect that. It has been a big topic for us.

We have a lot of new guys here. They are still finding their way through the game reps of our system and structure which will take time. I certainly expect it to be a more controlled game on both sides on Saturday.

Do you have an ideal workload split between Ilya Samsonov and Joe Woll?

Keefe: Not necessarily, no. I expect it to be pretty similar to last year, which was broken up a lot with injuries to both our goalies. The schedule being what it is, you have to use both guys, and we will.  We will look at the schedule and make a plan to take it a day a time as we go through.

Do you ever talk to the crew at the Scotiabank Arena about the quality of the ice?

Keefe: Both teams play on the same ice, so I am not concerned about that.

What stands out about Ryan Reaves’ personality and what it has brought to the team so far?

Keefe: A lot of confidence, swagger, and consistency. That part of it — consistency — I was not quite sure on that end. You never quite know until you see a guy and work with him every day.

With his demeanor — his attitude and everything that he has brought here daily — and his consistency in practice with his habits and how he has played on the ice, I have been really, really impressed. This is a true professional who knows his job.

When I say that, I am not referring to his role as a physical player and the fighting and all of that kind of stuff. Defensively, he knows his responsibility. He has gotten it right pretty much every time. He plays hard and smart. He keeps his shifts short.

I have been really impressed with what we have gotten from Reavo so far. I thought he was excellent in the first game the other night. I have been thrilled with him here and what he has brought to the group.

What did you see from John Klingberg in his first real game action? How impressed were you with his game considering how long he was off through camp?

Keefe: I thought he made a lot of really good plays with the puck. When you go through it, a lot of our best offensive sequences came off of his stick either directly making the play such as the quick-up pass he made to Gregor to set up the first goal or it happens two or three plays earlier in the sequence. He is starting the sequences for us. That is what we want to see with him: the ability to launch our offense.

The other piece, which I would say about a lot of our guys when you step back, take a look overhead at all 10 players on the sheet — he was way better defensively than I gave him credit for. I’d say that about our whole defense. Our gap control was really good. All of the things that Mike Van Ryn has been talking about through camp were the best they have been through preseason or through camp.

Klingberg, for a guy who didn’t play preseason for the most part, was really good in that regard as well. It was an impressive debut for him.

What did you like about how he influenced the power play?

Keefe: Again, same thing. I thought the power play got better as it got going. Two important goals for us in the second period. Klingberg is an important piece of that. He also, at times, shot the puck when it was his turn and it was the right decision to shoot it. From that end, it was really good.

We came away from the game not feeling warm and fuzzy because of the nature of it and how it went, but when you watch it back on video, there are a lot of encouraging things there.

With the latest example of Fraser Minten staying with Morgan Rielly for Thanksgiving, how important is it for veteran players to take the new rookies under their wing like that?

Keefe: It is great to see. It is something that we had talked about when we made the decision that Fraser was going to start with us. That was the next thing. He had earned his way here as a player. How do we take care of him as a player and a young man who is coming into a new city and playing professional hockey?

I was thrilled. I used the Thanksgiving example, but there have been a number of other gestures that players on their own have done. When you step away from it and look at it, we have a number of players that have been in his shoes. Maybe they are guys who came in and knew they were going to be here — higher picks and all of that — but we have a lot of guys who have been young people in a new city learning a lot all at once. I am sure, along the way, they have ah others take care of them. Now they are paying it forward.

If you look back at Tavares and how he brought in Knies to live with him, I know John had a player do the same thing for him in Long Island. That is kind of the way the game works. Players take care of each other that way. I have been really, really pleased with how players on their own have taken guys under their wing and made sure they are taken care of.

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