Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings which dropped the team’s record to 5-3-1.
On his takeaway from the game:
We obviously weren’t very good. We were flat from the start. We had a couple of surges through the game at different times but nothing sustained. You are climbing out of a hole against a very good and structured team. It is tough sledding.
On whether it is a game the team should flush and move on from:
That is what I am going to do. I am going to move on and prepare for Boston.
On whether the team needs more from the rest of the roster when the big four isn’t “on”:
We need everybody. Even when our top guys are going, you need everybody.
We saw the importance of that on the road. We got some good performances from different people. Knies and Domi scored us huge goals to get us points in the comeback in Tampa. That same line with Kampf gets us a huge goal with Giordano in Nashville. You need those kinds of performances for sure.
Today, nobody had it.
On flipping Morgan Rielly onto the top power-play unit:
The power play was like our five-on-five play. When you don’t have it, you are sort of relying on the power play to be able to spark you and get some positive momentum for the group. You kind of saw it in the third. Our power play scores, and on the next few shifts, all of a sudden, you have some legs.
It just wasn’t happening for us on the first few power plays. Just changing the mix a bit.
On Max Domi taking a couple of penalties out of frustration/desire to spark the team:
He is trying to do something. It is a night when we are flat. The game is pretty much a write-off in terms of our ability to come back. I think you can maybe go about it differently or better, but he is trying to get something started.
On how Joseph Woll performed behind a flat team in front of him:
It was a tough night for him. The first one we put in our own net off of a stick and a redirect. They got two slamdunks and one they ripped in the net off the post on the power play. It is a tough night for the goalie.
I am not worried about Joseph. He will shake that off.
On whether Noah Gregor did the right thing on the 2-0 goal by leaving to the bench to fetch a new stick:
I thought it was a fine time for him to come and get a stick. We had more than enough people in and around that space to cover off the net. If Gregor had a stick or not, he is not going to be covering. That is not his job to cover that space regardless.
We just sort of lost track of that. You are half an inch away with three different sticks that have a chance to shut that pass down.
On whether Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi are still finding their way in a Leaf sweater:
I thought both guys gave us some really good things on the road. Nobody had it tonight. Let’s not try to poke holes in new guys, old guys, guys who have been here, or guys who haven’t. Nobody had it tonight. Lots of guys were doing good things for us on the road.
On whether fatigue factored into the performance coming off of the long road trip:
It can be a part of it, but it is the NHL. Every team is going to go through stuff like this. You have to push through it and find a way. There are no excuses tonight. You have to find a way.
There are things we could’ve done better. Sometimes, you really have your A game and everything is clicking. Sometimes, you have lots of energy but you aren’t sharp with the puck. You have to adapt and adjust your game. Sometimes, you don’t have energy, so you need to better in different ways or your special teams need to carry you.
Find a way. Don’t find an excuse.
On what isn’t quite clicking between Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner:
I am not going to pick apart this one too much, but when you look at the bigger sample, I think things are just off a little bit. There have been some chances there that haven’t gone in, but chance generation has just been off.
They will continue with it. Among the things that I am worried about, those two guys are not anywhere near the top of the list.
