Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators which dropped the team’s record to 17-9-6.
On where the game got away from the team:
We couldn’t score the third goal or didn’t score the third goal. We let them hang around.
They were better than us in the second period for sure. It looks a lot worse because our power play gave them a freebie, some life, and energy. Some of our details just slipped on each of the goals against.
I thought Ottawa got better and harder as the game went on. We didn’t respond to that.
On whether the missed opportunities offensively are a case of the team not bearing down or if it is just tough puck luck:
The puck is lying around the crease and on the goal line. That is tough. It is the ebbs and flows of the league, right? Sometimes those don’t go in. Other times, you are scoring from below the goal line, you’re scoring from the wall, and you’re scoring off bodies.
Maybe it was the Rangers game where everything was bouncing off of us and going in the net. Some of the luck has gone the other way a little bit. Tonight, it was the same thing. The puck is sitting there in the crease, and it doesn’t go in. They shoot one from below the goal line, and it goes in.
But to me, it is just in the details of our game. There are things we would like to do a whole lot better on each of the goals that we gave up.
On the team’s much worse performance in second periods compared to prior years:
We are certainly aware of it. To me, when things don’t go well for us, we don’t move the puck efficiently from the defense to the forwards on breakouts and regroups. In the second period, if you don’t do those things well, the period is not going to go well. That has been an issue for us the entire season.
On the sloppiness of the power play leading to a shorthanded goal against:
I am just going to chalk it up to a group that hasn’t played and had a few days off. Something like the power play is maybe not going to be as sharp.
What I didn’t love about it is that I thought we were really outworked on our power play. That part is not acceptable.
The execution pieces… Ultimately, on the goal that we gave up, we had full possession of the puck and we didn’t execute a pass, so we gave it right back to them. A lot of the other issues on the power play were simply due to Ottawa outworking us in those spots. It was the same at 6-on-5.
On Martin Jones’ performance:
I thought he was fine. The third goal is kind of a funky one there. He is in a tough spot on that one. The (other) goals that they got… you can’t give those chances up.
