After Wednesday’s optional practice, Sheldon Keefe discussed the team’s failure to close out games of late, the areas for improvement defensively, and TJ Brodie’s performance this season.
What went into the plan today to keep the main group off of the ice?
Keefe: We have been talking about this day for the last couple of weeks in terms of how to manage it. We left this as one we would decide on at the time based on where we felt the team was at given we are in the middle of a tough schedule. We just felt it was the right thing for today.
If you had asked me before last night’s game, I would say it’d be around 80% it would be an off-day today, but we wanted to get through the day and see how it went. We just finished playing five games in eight nights and four in the last six. We have a three-in-four coming starting tomorrow night. This is all coming off of the California trip. It has been a challenge.
When we can get days like this to recover, I think it is important. We had a lengthy team meeting at the hotel and talked about a number of things. I wanted that to be the main focus for today.
What is the message to the group as you look to turn around the results of late?
Keefe: It is a matter of making sure they understand the things we have done really well to get leads. To blow leads, you have to get leads. To get leads, you have to do good things. We have done that. We have put ourselves in a position to win games of late.
Four games have come at us in these six nights, and they haven’t gone our way. It sort of highlighted some of the issues we have as a team in terms of closing these games out. I don’t think it is an issue just in these (recent) days. It’s an issue all season long. It is why we failed to win in regulation with the regularity we would want to see.
If we take a step back and zoom out a little bit, there are a lot of good things that have been happening here. Last night, we gave up too much against an Oilers team that is going to stress you and has been stressing every team in the league with how they play offensively and the players that they have. But the reality is that over the last month, we have been one of the top defensive teams in the NHL. We have given up very little at five-on-five especially. It has put us in a position to be in these games, and during the four-game winning streak, take control of games and close them out.
In these last six nights with the four games we’ve played, we have had chances to close it out and haven’t done so. That has shown our inconsistency in those big moments. It is not a reflection of where our team is at (overall).
If you zoom out on it, we have been one of the top defensive teams in the NHL over the last 10 or 11 games going into last night, and we have given up very little at five-on-five. But in these big moments, when the game is on the line, with the consistency to stay with it when fatigue becomes a factor and the other team starts to really push, we haven’t gotten it done at those times.
That is a big part of it — executing in those critical moments — and then the other side of it is that we have to score a little more. We have to give ourselves some more breathing room and put the dagger in the opposition when we have the chance.
We could’ve blown the game wide open last night. That is not to say they didn’t have their chances. Jones made some big saves for us, but we could’ve had three or four in that first period. On a lot of other nights, we may well have done that.
When it is not going in, it is all the more reason why you need to stay with it, dig in, be consistent, and execute defensively on the things that you did throughout the game that put you in those positions, to begin with.
Defensively, what are some of the things you really want to drill down and see the team improve on?
Keefe: We have been one of the best defensive teams in the NHL over the last 11 games, so let’s not confuse that with what has happened in these moments. When the game is tight and you make one or two mistakes that can hurt you — as they have of late — then all of a sudden, you get asked about them every day. If we score more or we finish those games out, you don’t ask about them, and you would maybe be sitting here asking about how we have given up so little at five-on-five.
In our most recent 10-game segment, we had the best goals against at five-on-five in the NHL. You are talking about those things rather than breaking down our issues on defense. But, at the critical moments, you have to defend. When there is fatigue and the other team is pushing — last night, we were tired and couldn’t get the puck out a couple of times — you have to really be dialed in to protect your net.
There have been a lot of things we have done very well that have put us in a position to have leads and be in control of games, but we have cracked at the wrong times. That is what has happened in the last stretch.
Tomorrow night is another opportunity for us to get it right.
What are you seeing during John Tavares’ dip in production? Is it just puck luck? Does he need to get to better areas?
Keefe: When I go back and look at it, Tavares and Nylander — through the game, if you look at the scoring chances — were probably our most consistent contributors throughout the game in generating chances. Some of it is that.
Every team and every player is going to go through little dips in the season. John has gone through these dips before. Willy has gone through these dips before and finds his way back. I suspect John will do the same.
To me, defensively, John has done a good job for us. Again, I see a little bit of fatigue going on with John, too. To me, he doesn’t have the same pop and jump that he’s had. Maybe that’s a symptom of our schedule.
Offensively, there is a lot of focus there. With Willy, I don’t know how many crossbars and posts Willy has hit in the last five or six games, but it has been a lot. Tavares and Willy had different wingers with them throughout the game, but those guys were in a good number of our scoring chances last night. They just have to stay with it.
Where do you stand on TJ Brodie’s game right now?
Keefe: Defensively, he has given up more and hasn’t been as consistent as we have come to rely upon. I don’t know if he has had many easy nights in terms of matchups and such. That is just a reality of our group. We need that out of him.
There were some moments last night that really kind of hurt us in the game, but I think there has been a good stretch of games in the last little bit — through the California trip — where his game started to really improve, particularly his ability to move the puck up the ice. That is a strength of his game — to move the puck out, be efficient with his breakouts and regroups, and help us get some pucks to the net on offense.
All of that is to say I think he has battled and competed for us. I think we need more out of him — he and the guys we rely on at key moments closing out games. Whether it is Brodie, who we have come to rely on over the years, or anyone who is on the ice in those key moments, we need to execute.
Some of it is relying upon those who have been here. The other part of that I am trying to work through as a coach: With all of the new players that we have — whether it is at forward or on defense — who are we going to rely on in those moments? Who is going to go out and get the job done?
Despite the fact that we are through the halfway point of the season now — 42 games in — I still have a lot of questions, quite honestly, about who is going to go out and we can say for certain is going to get the job done for us. It has been a little bit inconsistent throughout the group. I would put TJ in that category.
What is the key to coaching a team through a stretch like this with the psychological part of needing to stiffen up at key moments?
Keefe: It is reconnecting them with the fact that they have done it a lot. There are a number of players who have been here with us. There are a lot of newer guys, but for those who have been here, we have been an elite team in the regular season for a number of years.
You don’t get to that without finding a way to close out games. You don’t win a playoff series against Tampa Bay — with how tight those games were and how hard we had to defend through those games to persevere — without the ability to be mentally tough. We have that within us. That is for the guys who have been here.
For the others, it is about finding their place. For some of them, they are in different types of roles than they have been in during their careers and are in different types of spots, but it’s about finding some familarity and embracing those opportunities.
For me, it is about continuing to push and challenge them and make them aware of what is happening. We went through a lot of that this morning. It’s also giving them the confidence to know they can push through this. They have done it a number of times. As much as things are intense and pressure rises in those critical moments, it is still the same game that they have played in the early periods to get those leads and be in control.
We showed a number of clips last night where we were in control of things defensively, won the puck back, and transitioned to offense, which was a huge part of our plan last night — to defend hard, transition to offense, and get opportunities to score. I thought we did that part of the game as well as we have in quite a long time.
It is there. It is in us. It is on me to continue to remind them about that and push them at the same time to find their way through this.
How challenging is balancing ice time? You want more goals, but the top guys might be a little fatigued during this heavy schedule.
Keefe: It is a challenge. I have been working through that in preparation for this stretch — knowing you need to get more out of your bottom six guys. Their minutes, up until last night, have been way up. The top guys’ minutes have come down. You are trying to build trust and opportunity for those other guys to recognize their role and importance so we can get through these kinds of things.
Last night, quite honestly, when you have the McDavid and Draisaitl combinations coming at you without last change, it is a challenge. It’s me trusting our whole lineup, but at the same time, we need some individuals to really step up and show that they can be out there and relied on in these moments.
I don’t know if we are there yet, but I believe we will get there. I believe we have done enough good things throughout a lot of these games to show that we can do it. It is about the consistency throughout. The more guys that we have on board and the more we can spread those minutes, (the better). Otherwise, it is a natural tendency to go to your best people.
