Sheldon Keefe challenges Toronto Maple Leafs in team meeting
Times are tough for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and their coach is feeling the heat.
The Leafs have lost four straight games, all of which saw them squander a lead at some point, including a 3-0 lead to the Colorado Avalanche last Saturday. The team also was up 2-0 on the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, but allowed four unanswered goals on their way to a 4-2 loss.
As their Western Canada road trip continues, the team held a meeting at their hotel in Calgary and head coach Sheldon Keefe challenged his team during this rough patch. Doing so “very bluntly,” he expects his team to raise their game heading into a hearty stretch of their schedule, where they face the likes of the Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets (twice), Dallas Stars, and other playoff hopefuls.
“Who are we going to rely on in those moments?” Keefe questioned when speaking to the media after practice on Tuesday. “Who’s going to go out and get the job done?”
“Forty-two games in, I still have a lot of questions, quite honestly, about who is going to go out and you can say for certain is going to get the job done for us.”
Keefe has confidence in his team, despite the poor play. However, he knows, as the coach, he needs to motivate his players to stay motivated in clutch moments.
“It’s there. It’s in us. It’s on me to continually remind them about that — but push them at the same time to find their way through this.”
It is not like the 43-year-old bench boss is not unaware how the Leafs have been losing games. Five of the last seven games has seen Toronto blow a lead of some sort, but he believes his team is in a better spot than what it looks like on the surface.
“We’ve had times to close it out, and we haven’t done so. That has shown our inconsistency in those big moments. It’s not a reflection of where our team is at, I don’t think. We haven’t gotten it done at those times.”
This bad run of results comes right after the Leafs ran through California, winning four consecutive games, though two came against the San Jose Sharks.
The Leafs (21-13-8) get set to face the Calgary Flames on Thursday. They currently sit third in the Atlantic Division, just one point ahead of the fourth-place Detroit Red Wings, and 11 back of the Boston Bruins for first.