Sheldon Keefe calls out team for poor defensive play, costly errors
In a game that should have been a win for the Maple Leafs last night against the Ottawa Senators, the Leafs managed to fall apart for all of 4 minutes in the third period, allowing the Sens to score three goals in that span and secure a 6-3 victory. It all started with a bad bounce on the penalty kill that saw a Dominik Kubalik pass from the bottom of the circle bounce off of Mark Giordano's skate and in the net and ended with the Leafs being booed off the ice by the hometown fans.
During his post-game media availability, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was heated and called out the team for their poor defensive play.
"We gave them two gifts," said Keefe.
He continued by lamenting that they always get praise for scoring so much, but that there is never enough talk about how much they give up and called out the team for failing to commit defensively before indirectly apologizing to Leaf fans.
"Some of it is individual. Some of it is collective within the structure. Some of it is just being committed to it. We sit here and celebrate guys who score big numbers and score a ton. We don't talk enough about what we give up. That is the reality. We have to prioritize keeping the puck out of our net....Our fans deserve better."
Keefe is bang on in his assessment as the Leafs rank a dismal 28th in goals allowed and 25th on the penalty kill while ranking 11th in goals for and 5th on the powerplay. It's always been known that the Leafs can outscore their problems for the most part, but when they aren't scoring, their defensive issues take on a much larger spotlight. Unfortunately for the Leafs, their offensive outbursts have failed to overshadow most of their defensive issues so far this season. They won't have much time to clean up their defensive mistakes as they host the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 9 | 334 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe calls out team for poor defensive play, costly errors Does Brad Treliving need to trade for a defensive defenseman or should the Leafs ride it out until Jake McCabe returns? | ||
| Ride it out | 58 | 17.4 % |
| Make a trade | 137 | 41 % |
| Should have traded for one already | 139 | 41.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
MUST READ
TRENDING NOW
