Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 9-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks which improved the team’s record to 29-16-8.
On Auston Matthews impacting the game so early and often:
I have seen a lot of things from Auston. It seems like he is raising the standard consistently.
There are a lot of things on that first goal, in particular. Knies is terrific on that goal to make that play, and then Auston — as much as he has been scoring — you know teams are talking about him. I am sure Anaheim had a plan and talked about him.
One of the greatest things about Auston is that he continues to find ways to get available and get to spots to get his stick available to be able to score and help us take charge of the game like that, which was really important.
We played this team previously, and we felt like we controlled this game when we played them, but we were never able to take advantage of the game by capitalizing on our scoring chances. That was important tonight. It felt like we maybe got some of the goals that we deserved when we were in Anaheim.
It is a great effort from our team all the way around. Over 82 games, it is not often that you get a game like this where you sort of put it in cruise control for the second half and are kind of letting the clock wind down. It was nice to be able to have one of these tonight, move on, and get ready for the road trip.
On his level of appreciation for Matthews rewriting the record book:
It is exceptional. I have kind of gone through the phase where you are in awe of Auston, you know? But this is a new standard for him to have a hat trick and then follow it up again, which — as we know — is not the first time he has done it. It is pretty remarkable.
He is scoring in different ways. Tonight, he scores on a pass out from below the goal line and goes low blocker. He scores on a one-timer. And then he scores on a redirected puck on the glove side.
He just scores in different ways, which makes him really difficult to defend against. Credit to him for getting to those spaces and being as dynamic as he is in different ways.
On whether he asks Mitch Marner to defend when needed or if he volunteers to do it:
We talked about it in the intermission. It hasn’t come up a lot. In this spot, losing Lagesson as early as we did, we knew it was going to be taxing on our D. We wanted to manage that, especially with the way the game was going and everything.
In the intermission, we said to Van Ryn that if we needed D, Mitch is your guy. We filled him in. We have used him in this spot on defense before. He is very comfortable there.
We had talked about some scenarios where we would use him. We got to the point in the second where I said, “Mitch, jump in the back.” He was happy to do so. I think he was pretty excited to do it. It brought a little something different to the game for him, and he was unbelievable back there, quite honestly.
On the decision to challenge Anaheim’s goal:
You don’t have a whole lot of time to think about it, but it was one that the guys thought was really, really obvious.
It looked like the fastest review I had ever seen in the NHL. In that sense, you don’t want to challenge, but it is an obvious one.
I guess you are just protecting the integrity of the game on an obvious one like that as much as you don’t want to do it in that spot. You are protecting your team, the goaltender, and the integrity of the game.
It looked like it was an obvious one, and I was glad the league made it clear that we don’t want to be spending too much time on this. It was a very clear one.
On Tyler Bertuzzi breaking his goal-scoring slump:
You are thrilled for him. It was his first shift of the game, and I can’t remember who gave it to him. It might have been Domi or Willy. Somebody slipped him a puck on an entry, and he ripped a one-timer just inside the blue line. That in and of itself showed that Bert was on tonight. He was really feeling it.
The mindset that he had to shoot from a distance — I hadn’t really seen much of that from him, and it nearly went in, too. I thought he had a lot of really good moments in the game. It looked like he was really coming, and then he hit the post. You are thinking, “Okay, here we go again.”
He got himself to a really good spot. As much as Auston has been shooting the puck and at the net a ton, I thought the pass by Auston was world-class tonight, too. It was great to see. Auston, if you watch that play, to me, he is waiting for the right opportunity to find the stick of Bert. It was a priority of him to get him that one.
On managing a game that is firmly in hand so early in the night:
You are trying not to have bad habits that are going to allow momentum swings. You are trying to limit how much you have to defend. We didn’t play that great in the second half of the game. It is a really difficult time to stay mentally and physically engaged.
You are trying to manage some of the matchups, keep your guys healthy and rested, use the bench, and protect the goaltender.
On the growth of Bobby McMann’s confidence with his recent goal-scoring spree:
It is pretty remarkable. Credit to him. He has gone from a healthy scratch early this week to being inserted into the lineup when guys got sick. Now, he has five goals this week. It is pretty remarkable.
He has played really well, too. He has done a number of good things where he looks super confident with the puck. He is skating, moving his feet, challenging defenders, and he has been really good on the walls in his own zone.
It has been a great development for us. Given that he was going to be a healthy scratch earlier this week, if you put yourself in his shoes, I am sure he is thinking, “It is not good. I had my chance. I am starting to slip, and others are starting to come in.”
When he has come in and got his chance, he is showing that he is not going to let this one slip. Tremendous week for him, and it is great to see the puck go in. He can score. We have seen that at the AHL level. He did a lot of other really good things, too, that make it hard to keep him out of the lineup.
On Ryan Reaves and Max Domi looking after their teammates in the physical department:
I thought that was excellent. Because we scored so much, it is probably an understated part of the game. I thought we responded really well in that moment. It is great.
I loved what Max did. I loved Reavo’s presence here today. The attitude of our team has really changed a lot this season with those guys who have come in. I’d put Bertuzzi in there as well and Benoit as well as McCabe’s presence on the back.
These guys have all stepped up and done a really good job. There have been a couple of incidents throughout the season that we have blown up and made a big deal about, but in general, our team has handled those situations really well.
Domi, in particular, has really done a nice job there and also found a way to get a big-time assist to get Bobby his second goal.
It was tough to get Max minutes tonight because he was in the box a lot, but I loved his effort and the passion that he played with tonight.
On William Lagesson’s status:
He has an upper-body injury that is going to take some time to settle down. We don’t know much other than that.
