Sheldon Keef, Toronto Maple Leafs
After training on Saturday, Sheldon Keefe discussed Michael Bunting’s play in two games, John Cooper’s comments on his lack of concern about Lightning’s ability to score on the Leafs, Justin Hall’s performance in his first game in the series and more.
Practical lines – May 7
Lines in the practice of Leafs
Kerfut – Matthews – Marner Nylander – Tavares – Kase Mikheev – Kampf – Engval Bunting – Blackwell – Spca Simmonds, Clifford, Anderson
Rielly – Lyubushkin Muzzin – Brodie Giordano – HollSandin – Liljegren @TSN_Edge
– Mark Masters (@markhmasters) May 7, 2022
What is the mood around the team after last night’s victory?
Keef: Obviously we feel good every time you win the playoffs. At the same time, I think it’s very business-like. We feel good to win the match on the road here and give ourselves a 2-1 lead in the series, but I know that our team can play better and will have to play better. This is our focus. Today is a bit of a recovery day for our team, but certainly when we enter tomorrow, we strive to play even better.
When you face the two-time Cup champions, is it about trying to convey to the team that you can’t give them life?
Keef: That’s what I’m talking about. We like a lot of the things we did in the game, but I look at it and I still see a lot of things that we can do better as a team, and things that we can do better as individuals. This is our focus: to keep building.
It’s still early in the series here. I am sure that through three matches you have quite good indications and a feeling for your opponent, and they for us. I still don’t think we played our best hockey. I think we can still be better.
Coming back from his injury, where do you think Michael Bunting is?
Keef: In terms of the injury, I think it’s good. I don’t think there are any problems there. It’s a comeback from injury, and you’re also coming back and playing in the playoffs for the first time.
Especially when you play on this line, minutes are not easy. I thought this line had a hard time last night. I thought it got better when we made the change. We will try to start like this tomorrow.
Bunts is an important player for us. He scored a big goal for us in match 2. I think he will continue to get better with more repetitions.
What’s wrong with Alex Kerfut, who he seems to be raising in the playoffs?
Keef: Kerf is a very competitive person. He is very responsible. He is very good in all areas of his game. This translates very well at this time of year. His details and habits are good. These do not change.
Last night he made a slight mistake in the second period when executing a penalty. That doesn’t change who he is. We then give him the opportunity to rise in the lineup and do a good job. Whatever the line, it seems to be improving.
Why does this seem to increase his play-offs? I don’t know if that boosts his game or just keeps playing his game, despite the fact that it’s getting harder. Whatever it is, we like him, and he is an important person to us.
Did you talk to him about this mistake?
Keef: It was very obvious that he knew. He was well aware of that. I talked to him before the third period to shake him, but even more so, I needed him to help along those lines. They had a difficult match ahead of them. I needed him to have a good third period for us.
He seems to be the template for the player you really like as a person who can play so many positions. You have a few guys who can do that – Blackwell and others. How important is such a player in the playoffs and in general?
Keefe: Very important. We have our stars – our real creators of differences – and they get a lot of attention for a good reason, but when building a team, you need to be able to have a diverse team of guys who can do different things and different types of players.
During the season, even when you put someone in and have your squad with everyone located where you think is ideal, hockey happens. Mistakes happen. The boys’ games are going up and down. Injuries and matches happen.
You need to be able to move people. You need depth to be able to do this. Your depth needs to be flexible or you are really locked into many different things. When I watch our team last season, we lost John at the start of the playoffs. I thought Kerf got up and did a great job for us in this place, but we were really limited and locked in many other places that didn’t allow us much flexibility.
This season, due to Kampfs, Kases, Buntings, Engvall, Kerf and the addition of Blackwell, the band has extra flexibility. No doubt. We took advantage of this throughout the season.
How do you get an offensive player like William Nylander to take charge of defense at this time of year?
Keefe: I think it’s understandable that you have to be good in both directions, especially in the playoffs, when you play against one of the best teams in the league. Every time you are in the playoffs, you will play against the top 16 teams in the league. They are all that is left. Of course, in our case we are facing consecutive champions. The depth they have will create great challenges.
You have to play on both sides. It’s not just Will. This is Austin. This is Mitch. On the other side are our boys. You’re talking about Kampf, who is so great on defense. There will be times when he needs to step up the offensive on this side. He did this last night, scoring a huge goal.
This is all that is needed: on both sides. It takes a level of intensity on both sides of the puck to succeed. This applies to all our players.
Do you want to spend a little more time on the offensive end than in the second half of the match? Is it a long way to help people like Nylander and Tavares get involved more offensively?
Keefe: I thought we had a really great time in the offensive zone – perhaps our best in the series – in the first half of last season. There were some times when we had trouble getting out of our own end, and that created some problems.
From now on, against such a team, if you do not leave your zone within the first 10 seconds or sooner, they will gain control, spread you and it will be really difficult to get out. From now on, you are largely in a position where we are now limiting ourselves and trying not to give up a high-risk chance in the slot.
We were in this mode a lot last night, especially in the second half of the game, so it took a lot of attack. Our focus should be on getting out fast. Both teams are trying to achieve the same things. We are very much to deal with. If we reach this threshold of 10 seconds, we usually exhaust you and control the game.
They are very, very similar and good as any team in the league in this regard. This is a great challenge for us in defense.
John Cooper said he didn’t mind scoring goals against you. What do you think about this?
Keefe: I think it’s just his way of being confident and showing faith in his team. I think if I were him, I would say something like that.
He was asked specifically about Jack Campbell and said his team had scored seven in the last two. How do you feel about how Jack handled what Tampa threw at him?
Keef: I think last night was a great indication of how he plays. He is confident. He believes in himself. Even in moments when he seems defeated, he finds ways to hold the puck. He watches him really well. These are the playoffs. The teams will try to make it difficult for the goalkeepers. We are trying to do the same at the other end.
We need to keep doing a better job of limiting our chances and trying to help Jack. Both goalkeepers, by the way, made a saving match last night in the third period. If Matthews scores on his break or rebound right after, or if Marner scores instead of hitting the crossbar and the crossbar right after, they probably won’t have much of a boost the rest of the way.
Vassilevski kept them, and then they scored shortly after. Jack made a few saves of the game for us later. The goalkeepers fought back and forth. It’s great to see Jack standing there.
Did you get what you wanted by replacing Justin Hall and Timothy Lillegren?
Keefe: A big reason why Lillegren gained dominance at the beginning of the series was the chemistry between him and Giordano, which they showed throughout the regular season. That was a big part of it.
In the first few games, this pairing did not perform as well as it did. In this area, especially after a hard night with the penalty, you want to attract Hall. I thought he helped with the penalty. I thought he did some good things in the game. There have been a few mistakes inside that need to be done better, and our attackers can also help the cause.
To get directly to the issue, I would say that Justin came in and gave us a good game. We must try to limit a few of the mistakes that hurt us a little last night.
In fact, we have not seen matches with low results in the playoffs, as we often expect. Do you have any idea why we haven’t seen him so much in the league?
Keef: It’s hard to say. Obviously the number of special teams, I’m sure, is a factor. I haven’t watched the other series to see how many goals happen or whether the disruption of the flow has helped and shattered the defensive teams.
Maybe it’s just a continuation of the trend in the regular season at the same time. There was an increase in violations in the regular season.
I would not have a definite answer to this, except to say that it is also early ….
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