Sheldon Keefe sends clear message to 3 of his star players with surprising benchings

When the Avalanche began to take over the game in the second period, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe chose to counter by dropping Matthew Knies down the lineup and bumped William Nylander up to the top line with Marner and Matthews. It's not a combination we've seen a lot of over the years, except when the team is trailing late in games or in the final shift of a period. Still, even with Keefe loading up the top line, they couldn't find a way to capitalize.

Following the game, Keefe was asked about the move. Nylander had often been able to drive his own line throughout the season. However, on Saturday, his line just didn't have it, as Keefe pointed out.

Reporter Jonas Siegel revealed how Keefe distributed the ice-time for the third period with his team down a goal. Nylander, Marner and Matthews had close to 8-10 minutes each. Tavares had only 3 shifts and 3:18 of ice time, Knies skated just 2:14 of ice time and Tyler Bertuzzi had a shockingly low 1:21 in the final frame.

To further illustrate Keefe's questionable decision-making on the night, with his team down a goal with less than twenty seconds left, Matthews was on the ice with Noah Gregor and the player who played the second least in the period, Matthew Knies.

A Ross Colton empty-netter ended up sealing the deal, but the Leafs will need to get over the loss quickly as they host the Detroit Red Wings tonight on the second half of a back-to-back.