Some quick thinking and a strategic timeout allowed the Maple Leafs to erase Connor Zary's tying goal in the third period.
CALGARY — It could have been another disaster for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Struggling to hold onto leads and amid a four-game losing streak, the Leafs were up 4-3 on the Calgary Flames in the third period when. Connor Zary appeared to have scored the equalizer.
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After the Flames celebrated, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe called a timeout. But it wasn't to settle his team down.
He was trying to buy time.
"In real time I didn't see it but pretty much immediately I was told we need a second and this might be a hand pass and I'm trying to buy time," Keefe explained. The refs are trying to keep things moving and I don’t think they had any sense that there was anything so they didn’t know why we were stalling."
That's when he was informed by video coach Jordan Bean that they detected a hand pass by the Flames forward Blake Coleman to Jordan Oesterle that constituted a missed stoppage.
The referees reviewed the play on the ice and sided with the Maple Leafs.
The shrewd move to detect the missed stoppage ended up being the most important play of the game as the Maple Leafs hung on for a 4-3 victory and snapped their losing skid.
Bean and Sam Kim are responsible for all of the video coaching duties with the Maple Leafs and although Auston Matthews' hat trick was the story on the ice, the ability to detect the missed stoppage was the game-saver.
After the game, Keefe acknowledge Bean and Kim during his post-game speech to the group
"They’ve been fire back there," William Nylander said of the duo. "I don’t know how quick they had (to be) to catch that but I didn’t even notice that play happening. So that was unreal by them."
Bean and Kim have been perfect this season when it comes to challenges. They also assisted in removing a Zach Hyman goal in the Leafs' previous game, a 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1e_NfBdM2Q[/embed]
"You guys get to see it when we have these challenges and these key moments. They’re so dialled in. But I see it every day just because they allow this whole thing to run," Keefe said of Bean and Kim. "There’s so much that goes on with the coaching staff and how we communicate with the players and prepare the team. Those guys are MVPs of our staff every day."
Bean joined the Maple Leafs in 2016 and was promoted to video coordinator and statistical analyst in 2020. Kim Joined the Maple Leafs when at the time of Bean's promotion as a video and coaching coordinator after he served in a similar role with the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League.
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