Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings which improved the team’s record to 18-10-7.
On the team’s performance:
I thought the guys played incredibly hard on offense and defense. LA demands that you work and compete at a very high level. Right from the drop of the puck in the first period, our guys really showed that they were on a bit of a mission tonight. That is what we are capable of. It is a terrific effort.
On Martin Jones’ shutout:
I thought the guys defended really hard in front of him to help make his night manageable. We haven’t always done the job for our goalies, but tonight, the guys did a terrific job.
That said, there was a pass out to Moore in the first period where he made an incredible save for us. That is a game-changing save. Even though it is early in the game, if you get down against this team with the way they defend, it changes the game dramatically.
Despite the fact that we played well, played hard, and we love a lot of things, there is still not much between the two teams. It was good to see us get rewarded today.
There are some parallels between this game and the Carolina game the other night, which we didn’t get rewarded for on the back of our special teams. But that is two games in a row now where we haven’t given up a goal at five-on-five. That gives you a chance to win every night.
On whether Jones will start tomorrow:
We are going to have the discussion. The plan was to get through the game and have the discussions.
We want to give Hildeby an opportunity to get up to speed and get comfortable. You want to give him an opportunity to gain experience in the league. At the same time, Jones has played a lot of back-to-backs in his career. As far as back-to-backs go, this is as easy as it gets with the travel and two days off upcoming.
We have lots to talk about that way. Certainly, with the way that it went tonight, it is a lot better than us having to have a stressful night for the goaltender and rely on him. We will have the talk — myself, Tre, Curtis Sanford, and Jones himself — and make that decision.
On Tyler Bertuzzi’s role in both goals, including setting up the second goal with no glove on:
Two huge plays. There is not much going on out there offensively. It is hard to generate chances. He makes two plays to set up grade-A chances.
If there was ever a guy who was going to make a play looking a little bit odd with one glove on, he would be my pick. He stays in the battle and makes the play. It was really good to see.
On Bertuzzi and John Tavares’ fit together:
Both guys, below the dots, are dogs on a bone on the puck. Good sticks.
Bert doesn’t get nearly enough credit for his ability to make plays in tight spaces below the tops of the circles or the dots especially. John is so good around the net. Will drives the puck down the rink and gets them to those spots often. Will puts the puck at the net, where those guys live.
I think it is a good trio. That is why we went back to it at a time when I thought we needed to change some things up. Over the course of the season, it has been our best line. We are starting to see them get it back again.
On William Nylander’s utility on the PK:
He has just done a good job with it. Dean Chynoweth leads the way there. He talks to Willy a lot. He has done a good job of it not just this season but he has been patient. He has worked through a lot of meetings and sat through a lot of meetings over the last couple of seasons to learn about it. He is very eager.
We wanted to get him a little bit more involved and move him up the chain a little bit coming off a game where we didn’t get the kills that we wanted. We wanted to give Willy a little bit more and see if it would change things a bit. He did a really good job tonight.
On David Kampf’s response coming off of the healthy scratch:
Really good. I liked his game a lot. His line was really good. I felt comfortable putting him out there against anybody. Kampfer gave us what we expected from him. I thought his linemates followed, which is really what you are looking for.
On what he liked about how the team defended:
Just how we closed. I thought we closed really well. We had really good sticks, too, to break up plays. They had a lot of almost-chances that we got sticks on or we got bodies in the way. Guys sacrificed well. I just thought we really competed at a very high level tonight.
