Sheldon Keefe addressed the media after the Maple Leafs’ 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals which improved the team’s record to 39-20-9.
On the team’s response after a tough game in Philadelphia:
I really liked it. It was a bit of a flip of the script in terms of our starts in the first and second periods. It was good to see.
Probably even better than that, each time Washington got one and looked like they were getting life, we stayed on the attack and built our lead from there.
I liked the response overall in the game, but I also liked the response within the game as it was going on.
On the electric night offensively from the Bertuzzi – Matthews – Domi line:
Those guys were feeling it tonight. Auston was feeling it. Max was outstanding tonight as well. Those guys were great. Bert completed the line.
On the decision to stick with the Bertuzzi – Matthews – Domi line after uniting them in Philadelphia:
I liked them yesterday, which is why we wanted to stay with them, but today was even better. Those guys had a little more time with the puck today, and they just made plays.
Max was outstanding. Auston put on a clinic through most of the game, and Bert was battling through something with the illness, but even he — once he got going in the game — was good.
On Tyler Bertuzzi sitting out the first few shifts of the game:
It was a bit questionable if he was even going to play tonight. Just before warmup, he was saying he wasn’t feeling right. He went through warmup, and he still wasn’t quite feeling it, but he felt good enough to the point where he was going to stay in uniform.
We didn’t have any others in uniform tonight. The only other eligible player was Brodie, who we were giving a mental day away to anyhow. We decided to stick with Bert.
He wanted some time when the game was going, getting out there with the noise and all of the things that go on in the chaos of the game just to make sure he was good. Once we got through the first TV timeout, he went out for a little skate and thought he was good to go. We put him in the mix.
On Joseph Woll’s first start since March 7:
I thought Joe was good. Those one-timers are tough to handle. Otherwise, I thought he was good. There were some chances in the first period where he had to be really sharp. Otherwise, I thought the guys did a pretty good job in front of him.
It was a good game. I’m glad we got him back in and got him a win.
On the new defense pairings:
I thought they were good. I thought Timmins did a good job of getting the puck to the net tonight. The strengths of his game really showed up in the game.
It was a shame Auston’s hat trick goal came off the board. It was a great sequence all the way around, but it was a great job by Timmins to get it to the net, which he did a number of times tonight.
I thought McCabe and Rielly did a good job.
It was good to see, especially on a back-to-back, us build the lead and be able to share the minutes and rest some guys down the stretch.
All in all, I thought it was a good job by our group tonight on the back-to-back and to clean up our game from last night.
On Alex Ovechkin’s two goals bringing him up to 845 over his career:
I guess we are going to have to cover those one-timers on the pre-scout maybe (laughs).
He found two in the net, but he found some others tonight. Guys look for him. I don’t love how we handled some of those situations, but he is a world-class player.
If we can get the two points and still allow him to add to his total, I guess we will take that. Everybody leaves somewhat happy.
