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Coach Keefe admits to the crowd that he is fueling Leafs’ energy in victory
Publication date:
May 3, 2022 • 24 minutes ago • 4 minutes ago • 12 comments Mitchell Marner and William Nilander of Maple Leafs congratulate Aston Matthews for his goal against Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period of Game 1 of their first round playoff series. Stanley Cup at Scotiabank Arena on Monday, May 2, 2022 Photo: JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI / USA TODAY SPORTS
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Sheldon Keefe gave a lot of recognition after Monday’s 5-0 victory over Tampa Bay:
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- To his penalty for detaining Lightning snipers from two shots of a major from the first period.
- For Mitch Marner’s three-point night, which included his first goal since the 2019 season.
- Aston Matthews won his direct match with Stephen Stamkos.
- 24 rescues of Jack Campbell.
- The response from his team as a prediction of “border violence” manifested itself in 123 combined penalty minutes after a fight in the third period – with time to scrape blood from the ice.
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But the coach saved a high rating for what he saw and heard behind his back.
“I thought the audience (19,338) was the first star tonight. They were amazing. I thought they took us through this murder (from an unnecessary shot by Kyle Clifford) and didn’t miss the rest of the game.
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“I was asked downstairs about homemade ice, but I didn’t think it would be that important. This was my first coach in a playoff game in a full building and you can feel the love for this team.
“It was a good night, but it was one night.”
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Wayne Simmonds said Monday morning that Leafs should “change the story” of their failures in the playoffs. And the focus has really shifted from the five consecutive flops of Toronto in the first round to the two-time and defending champions for the Stanley Cup, who play from behind.
It was Toronto’s first five-game playoff win after an 8-3 win over San Jose in 1994.
“We played fast, we played through the contact,” Matthews said. “Our penalty was huge, Soupy was amazing and we won the capital. The place was noisy… But it’s a long series. ”
Indeed, this is not the first time you have won eight consecutive sets when the flash is on. Although never against Leafs and not with Stamkos, who was defeated in his hometown, while the star goalkeeper Andrei Vassilevski had fallen and out several times.
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Tampa coach John Cooper was puzzled that his team was so relaxed with their long game of force that followed Leafs’ ineffective early minor.
“I’m not sure Leafs had to play very well to beat us tonight,” Cooper said. “You have to win four, but you don’t want to give any free to the teams.”
After losing 5-0 in Match 1, Lightning coach John Cooper said:
“I’m not so sure Maple Leafs had to play particularly well to beat us tonight.”
Think of these #Leafs fans? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/f4RcQfFf1V
– Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) May 3, 2022
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Overcoming a potential setback when Clifford was equipped to board Ross Colton in seven minutes, the Leafs faced this challenge, generating three collisions with strange people.
The six best Lightning scorers in the history of the team’s playoffs are scattered through their powerful play, but the Leafs were completely committed, the same fervor that brought them the top 13 goals with short arms this year.
“There is a lot of faith in our team,” Keefe said after the morning skating. “We know what’s at stake, what we’ve been through to get to this point, and we know what we’re playing for; our fans, our city and each other.
“It’s a great challenge, but a great opportunity to overcome it (the first round).”
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If the killing of an early five-minute major did not show that the Leafs did not tremble in the playoffs on the first night, the fight with three more powerful plays and scoring two goals for special teams in the middle period removed all doubts.
The game slipped out of the Bolts in the second period when Matthews cashed in a 5-on-3 chance as Lightning failed to realize that cross-checking would be close in this series. Kampf then put an astonishing sign on his work with the PC, blocking the shot and racing the great defender Victor Hedman to a puck in neutral ice, scoring and then jumping into the cup in uncharacteristic emotion.
Marner had amassed two assists before ending a painful drought, hitting Morgan Riley with his wand and burying her. Matthews added another in the third.
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It was Toronto’s first victory for Leaf against a Defender of the Champions Cup on May 5, 2001 in New Jersey and broke the record 1-4 in Game 1 of the series, which began in the SBA in 2002. Campbell recorded his second exclusion from the playoffs.
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Much has been done for Leafs, who set a franchise record of 54 wins and 115 points, 315 goals, plus 62 points. But could they maintain this dominance against such an experienced enemy in May, with the advantage of home ice or not?
Last year, it was John Tavares’ injury that stopped the momentum in Match 1, and this time it was a self-inflicted wound. Clifford, one of the fourth-line strikers, Keefe thought he could be trusted not to cross the line of intensity, did just that.
“Bad decision,” Keefe agreed, but he insisted that former LA Kings Cup champion Clifford was not finished in the series.
The crowd was in a frenzy waving their towels when the major ended up with a penalty from Nikita Kucherov.
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With equal force, the returning Ondrej Kase dug a corner puck for Jake Musen to shoot through the traffic past Vasilevski.
When the smoke cleared after the clashes in the third period, five players had violations among minors for rude and unsportsmanlike conduct.
“Let’s stand up for each other – I think that’s what we all got out of it,” Matthews said of the episode.
Game 2 is Wednesday.
lhornby@postmedia.com
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