"Egregious": Leafs called out by Keefe for defensive woes
If you only watched the 64 seconds of the Toronto Maple Leafs game on Tuesday night, you’d think that they were the best hockey team in the world.
While fans were settling into their seats at Scotiabank Arena, Tyler Bertuzzi found an opening and burst up the middle to put Toronto up 1-0.
But less than four minutes later, New Jersey’s first shot of their own found the back of the net via Jesper Bratt, with the Devils adding a second goal via Nico Hischier with 2:04 left in the first to take a 2-1 lead.
Asked about goaltender Joseph Woll’s performance, Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe chose to highlight what he felt were a series of defensive errors.
“You can’t let in the first shot of the game. That is two in a row now. But the chances we gave up tonight were egregious,” Keefe said postgame. “There are lots of issues in front of him.”
Despite 25 shots on net in the first period and 45 in total, Toronto ended up with a 6-3 loss. Toronto actually fought back to hold a 3-2 lead in the second period, but four straight New Jersey goals turned a close game into a disappointing loss.
“There are 25 shots [after the first period],” Keefe added. “Everyone is feeling great. You have lots of puck touches. You think it is going to happen again if you stick with it… I just thought we got incredibly sloppy and careless. That is disappointing.”
With the Leafs down 4-3 with a little over three minutes to go in the third period, the dagger came when a poorly guided Max Domi pass in the offensive end led to a Jack Hughes breakaway for New Jersey, which the 2019 first overall draft pick easily converted.
“Jack Hughes got two breakaways. You are not winning the game if that is going to be the case,” Keefe added. “I hated lots about our game tonight. Hopefully, the players hate it just as much or more than I do.”
Keefe’s players also felt they were too lackadaisical on the evening.
“I don’t think we were able to get too much going. And when we did, we just gave it right back. So, I think just a little bit of an immature performance by us at times. We have to have that killer instinct a little bit more, especially when you have a good first period like that,” star forward Auston Matthews said.”That stuff just can’t happen. That’s on us, on the players.”
The Leafs return to action on Thursday night when they host the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena. It’s the first time the two teams have met since Capitals forward Tom Wilson high-sticked Noah Gregor on March 20, with Wilson currently serving a six-game suspension for the infraction.
Puck drop is set for 7 pm ET.
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