The Maple Leafs coach was in a foul mood after his team's 3-2 loss to New York on Monday.
The Maple Leafs coach was in a foul mood after his team's 3-2 loss to New York on Monday.
These are the types of games that Sheldon Keefe particularly hates.
His Toronto Maple Leafs had the slight edge in expected goals at even strength and his stars came close to scoring while probably deserved a better outcome in their first game back from the NHL All-Star break.
But mistakes led to goals allowed, and the Leafs left Scotiabank Arena with no additional points in the standings in a 3-2 regulation loss to the New York Islanders.
After allowing the game's first goal to Islanders forward Matthew Barzal midway through the first period, the Maple Leafs eventually found their way onto the score sheet. But betimes were met with mistakes made by Toronto a little over two minutes later, leading to New York reclaiming the lead.
After Mitch Marner tied the game 1-1 at 0:50 of the first period, the Maple Leafs went on a power play. But Auston Matthews and William Nylander were both caught late on the ice playing most or all of the entire two minutes. Kyle MacLean, who was in the box serving an unsportsmanlike penalty for Bo Horvat, came out of the box and had a clear path to the net, and scored his first NHL goal.
It's February. So was it particularly frustrating to Keefe to see his players lack of awareness for a penalty clock expiring and not get another defenseman out on the ice?
"That’s Peewee stuff," Keefe said of the play. "It has nothing to do with the season or anything like that. You play on the power play in the National Hockey League, they should not get behind you coming out of the penalty box."
Timothy Liljegren was the only defenseman on the ice who collected the minus on the play along with four other forwards.
That wasn't the only mistake the Leafs made that led to a goal.
After the Maple Leafs tied the game 2-2 in the third period, Pierre Engvall, who was playing in his first game in Toronto since being traded away by the club last year, scored the game-winner, after Morgan Rielly turned the puck over when his backhanded clearing attempt right to the stick of Brock Nelson.
"We played well enough to win the game and did just enough to lose," Keefe said.
The Islanders picked up their first regulation victory in over a month and like the Maple Leafs needed points in the standings. The Leafs and Islanders both sit in fourth place in their respective divisions.
Playing without David Kampf (undisclosed) and Calle Jarnkrok (broken knuckle), the Leafs trotted out a revamped bottom-six forward group who didn't see a lot of ice time. When they did, they were defending more than they were in the offensive zone. But the Leafs did get some good looks from their stars, including Auston Matthews, who looked to possibly get goal No. 41 on the season, except for the fact that his shot hit both posts and the crossbar.
The Leas will get back at it at practice before taking on the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
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