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Sheldon Keefe had some choice words for John Tavares following loss
Photo credit: NHL
Following a dominant first period where they put up 25 shot, it looked as though the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to walk all over the New Jersey Devils last night, even though they trailed 2-1 at the end of the frame. Once the second period started, however, the game was completely flipped on its head.
Although the Leafs scored twice in the first five minutes of the second, the Devils answered less than a minute after Auston Matthews gave the Leafs a 3-2 lead and would go on to score three more over the rest of the game. Following the game, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was asked about his team's performance.
"Hated lots about our game tonight and hopefully the players hated it just as much or more. Instead of having a strong period and building on it and continuing to do the things that we had done well, I thought we just overdid it." said Keefe.
Keefe continued by calling out the likes of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Joseph Woll.
"It was just really immature Immature from our most inexperienced players and our leaders. They (Matthews, Nylander, Tavares) have got to be the example. John Tavares has been the example for us. He's been outstanding for us for a long period of time. He himself got carried away tonight. That's our captain. So if that's going to happen, well, like the rest of our bench is now, we're just making it up as we go. When you do that, you open the door for the opposition to have a good night. And they did that. And I thought the last goal at the end of the third period there, that's indicative of our second and third periods."
While Keefe didn't place a tremendous amount of blame on Woll, he was not pleased that he gave up a goal on the first shot.
"You can't let in the first shot of the game. That's two in a row now. But the chances we gave up tonight are egregious. There's lots of issues in front of him."
Woll not only gave up a goal on the first shot, but he also gave up two goals on 8 of the first 10 shots he faced in the opening period. With their 6-3 loss, the Leafs only remain four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for third in the Atlantic and will have to fix their immaturity in a hurry as they are back in action Thursday night against a surging Washington Capitals team before taking on the Lightning next Wednesday.
| POLL | ||
MARS 27 | 327 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe had some choice words for John Tavares following loss Do you think John Tavares should give up the "C" this summer? | ||
| Yes | 184 | 56.3 % |
| No | 81 | 24.8 % |
| We'll see how the playoffs go | 62 | 19 % |
| List of polls | ||
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