Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders which dropped the team’s record to 14-6-5.
On the special moment for John Tavares:
We are just so happy for John. Incredible accomplishment. He is contributor on two massive goals that help us get a point tonight.
To get the 1,000th in that manner — such an important goal — in this building here, which I know means a lot to him here, with his dad in the building as well… Pretty special.
We would’ve loved to get the second point for him tonight, but I am really happy he was able to have this moment.
On Tavares’ father witnessing the moment in person, and if he can imagine what it’s like for a father to see his son accomplish such greatness in the NHL:
I don’t think I could put it into words. It is hard to fathom just having a son play in the NHL let alone be the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs and get 1,000 points. He is still going to play in the league for a long time. It is pretty special and pretty remarkable.
I am glad we could have this moment with him. He has a lot of former teammates on the other side, and they got a chance to acknowledge him as well. I thought that was really respectful and well done by the Islanders organization.
It was good all the way around. Wish we could’ve gotten the second point. We had our opportunity. They had theirs. That is the way it goes.
Another good point for us.
On the team’s performance overall:
I thought were really good at times. At times, we were on our heels. Credit to the Islanders. I thought they played really well tonight. They made life hard on us.
It was a difficult task for us to get out of our end in that first period, especially. Breaking out was a real challenge for us against their forechecking pressure.
In the second period, I thought we were fine. Through most of the third period, we were good. It was just hard to get things to the net. But our 6-on-5 was terrific. We probably should’ve scored far earlier than we did.
When you hang around like that in a game and the 6-on-5 goes out and performs as it did… Just like our power play did on our one power play as the refs were letting lots go both ways. You are kind of waiting for your chance at 6-on-5, and the guys came through.
