After wins over Arizona and New York over the past few days, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a golden opportunity to extend their streak to 3 games on Monday with a win over the visiting Boston Bruins. However, they fell short of their goal when they failed to show up on time and play a full 60 minutes. You simply can't do that against the Bruins, who made them pay for it.
The Leafs were down 11-2 in shots before the first 13 minutes had elapsed in the 1st period and had already dug themselves a hole, down 0-2 against the big, bad Bruins. They had moments during the game where they pushed back, but ultimately, they couldn't capitalize on their chances, which led to a 4-1 loss on home ice, much to the chagrin of head coach Sheldon Keefe.
After the game, Keefe met with the media to discuss the result of the game, but when he began to speak, telling the media that his team "did a lot of good things", but thankfully, what he said to follow that up really drove home an excellent point.
Keefe is not satisfied with good things. It's clear from his post-game comments that he wants the team to excel, not to just be doing "good things", and who can blame him? There are 5 players on the roster eating up more than half the salary cap. When you're making the kind of money that Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Nylander and Rielly are making, you had better put your best foot forward 82 times a year. No team is going 82-0-0, but with that type of salary, the expectations are that you don't settle for "good". As Keefe suggested, they need to be great.
