Sheldon Keef, Toronto Maple Leafs after the match
Sheldon Keefe turned to the media after losing his team 2-1 to Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
Regarding the message to the team after the loss:
Words are hard to find. I just told them that they have many reasons to be proud of the work they have done this season, which has put us in a position to even play in this match tonight against such a rival.
There are many reasons to be proud, and yet many reasons to be devastated and upset. We feel good from the efforts we make. I thought they gave us everything they had.
We arrived. We are in a profitable business. We didn’t do it.
What was the difference in the game:
When a game is so close, it’s hard to pinpoint. They found a way to score this second goal. Both of the goals he scored were sort of kick-bang games. The packs spread freely and Paul shot him in the net.
I thought we had a few similar looks, especially at the beginning of the game, and we didn’t use capital letters. We didn’t take the chance.
Taking chances would be the difference. Both teams really didn’t do much tonight. The violation is difficult to reach in both ways. Somehow you had a premonition that it would be difficult like this.
They managed to score the second goal.
On the call that banned John Tavares’ goal:
I do not know. It’s out of my mind right now.
About whether this loss feels different from the series about Columbus and Montreal:
Yes, it feels different. It hurts a little more, to be honest. There was so much disappointment with our failure last season. It hurts more because it was a really good team that played really hard.
The fact that you are so close to this team … You can discuss the merits of any merit you want to give to our team, but I don’t know if you can argue anything about Tampa Bay Lightning, who they are, what they stand for and what have achieved.
We are right there, standing with them. We had the opportunity to finish them in match 6. We failed to do so. This shows that we were so close not only to winning this series, but also who knows what happens from there in terms of the faith of our team, after we played against a team of this caliber and found a way …
This is difficult because I really feel that we are much closer than it seems. Let’s play with a team of this caliber … We will see how the other playoffs go, but obviously this team has the recipe and the players have understood it.
About what the team can borrow from Lightning:
I think there are already things that we have borrowed from them over the last few seasons to build on that. The biggest thing I take from the series … There are obvious parts that are skill, insult and that they are dangerous people. But how do they defend themselves as a team, how do they give priority to defense, how do they commit to blocking blows and how do they give you nothing …
They don’t get much credit because you don’t really think of them that way, but we knew that entering this series, entering third periods against this team would be a challenge. They are the number one team in the NHL when it comes to limiting the chances against a goal in the third period. They were like that throughout the regular season.
This is a kind of hallmark of their success. This is championship hockey. They didn’t give us much in that third period tonight. These are the things I take away: how strongly they defend themselves and how they prioritize defense.
About the team’s efforts in the game:
I thought our boys were pushing hard. I thought we played confidently early. I thought we had a chance to move forward. This first goal would be really important for the audience and all the reaction we would get from there. We failed to take advantage of the chances we had.
Not much was happening. The chances were slim and far between the two ways for most of the game from there. In terms of our efforts and the pace of play in this series – especially in the last few games – this is amazing hockey. This is fast hockey. This is competitive hockey.
Our boys stood and were right there. We came back in games 5 and 6. This shows a lot about the character of our team to do this against the team I’m talking about – they are champions and the hallmark of their team is how they defend and finish games.
We failed to do it for the third time. The game in the back tonight was difficult.
For Jason Speza, who loses his chance to win at the end of his career:
Spezz gives us everything we have all the time. We talked about how he’s all here. He is a man who has no time on his side in the league. He has given so much to the game. He continues to work and commit every day of his life to win the Stanley Cup and help our team find its way. You sympathize with him for sure.
In the conversation between him and John Cooper in the handshake line:
We will leave him. He and I will talk again. We left him there. We both just admitted that this is a great series. It was really close. We received a lot of respect in this line from their team, which is nice to see.
It was a very different tone and respect on the other side of what we experienced before. We certainly win respect in the league, but again we are not in the game of respect. We are in the winning game. We need to find a way to do this.
How soon will he return to the office he plans next year:
Kyle and I will talk tomorrow and make a plan. We will have weekend meetings and other things with the players. I do not expect any of this to happen tomorrow, but I would say on Monday we will return to it. I’ve already talked to the coaches. We will be in the whole week of discussions of this series. We’ll take it from there.
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