In the middle of Halloween night on Tuesday, Toronto Maple Leafs players dressed up as invisible men during their game against the Los Angeles Kings at Scotiabank Arena, and the crowd didn’t like the spectacle, nor did head coach Sheldon Keefe.
The latter suffered their second setback in a row in a lackluster encounter marked by obvious defensive deficiencies. An interminable sequence of about two minutes in which the Kings continually buzzed around the Leafs’ zone earned the local favorites a series of boos at the end of the second period, a moment that well illustrated the game’s progress. This is very poor preparation for the visit of the strong Boston Bruins on Thursday.
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Keefe also expects things to get better soon.
“I have to move on and plan the next part. Nobody had it today. Let’s not make comparisons between the new and the old… It wasn’t the case this time either. [Pourtant]“A lot of guys did well overseas,” said the head coach, as reported by the Toronto Sun newspaper.
When the club returned from a five-game trip, its captain John Tavares preferred to face the music. In his opinion, this is not a reason to collapse at home.
“Regardless of the circumstances, every team goes through complicated schedule procedures. “We are back after a long journey and given the team we have, we have to recognize and understand that it is necessary to still fight and find ways to implement things, find rhythm and impose our game,” said he. We have to be better in situations like this.”
Unconvincing
Hockey players who need to give more include forwards Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi. The former has picked up three points this season, while the latter is still looking for a goal after the first nine games of the season. Bertuzzi underperformed while playing on the same line as Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, which could encourage Keefe to give Matthew Knies a chance to show his mettle alongside the Leafs’ two great talents. As for Domi, he seems to have continued his bad habits as an undisciplined player on the ice.
It all ended with changes to the offensive combinations, with William Nylander joining Marner and Matthews in Tuesday’s game. But despite the pairings and strategies, action must be taken.
“We have to have confidence in our game,” Marner said. When we’re doing well, we advocate effective forecontrol and take the puck away from the opponent. We had a few similar moments, but not enough. We have to make improvements and we will.”