The Toronto Maple Leafs’ recent performance Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks appears to have reassured many in the Queen City, including the team’s head coach Sheldon Keefe.
Although he claimed to have seen a lot of positive things in his players’ play the previous week, many fans instead heard desperation in the 43-year-old’s voice, according to the Toronto Sun newspaper.
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We have to admit that his team’s convincing victory with a score of 5: 2 against one of the best teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) in 2023-2024 rather proves him right.
“It was the perfect end to this series of home games,” he said after Saturday’s game. I have repeatedly emphasized that we are on the right path. Maybe it didn’t always look good, but we saw a lot of positive things within the team.”
The Leafs now sit fourth in the Atlantic Division with 18 points in 15 games, the same record as the Detroit Red Wings, but they have seven wins in regulation compared to just four for Toronto.
Help with the attack
If in recent years the Leafs’ slow start to the season was often blamed on the team’s four highest-paid forwards – Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander – that was absolutely not the case this season.
With the star players each scoring more than one point per game, it’s the supporting players who tend to struggle at the start of the campaign. Newcomers Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, John Klingberg and Ryan Reeves were singled out for their lack of contribution.
However, some have improved their game since the last two games.
“The offensive contribution of the support players is vital and today they helped extend our lead,” Keefe said at a press conference on Saturday. Some nights our best players will not produce outstanding performances. The good thing is that things have improved since Domi took center stage on the third line. The problem the whole time was keeping the puck away from our goal.”
The game against Vancouver ended a streak of eight home games early in the season in which the team scored four or more goals, a very sad record in the organization’s history, according to the Toronto Sun.
The Maple Leafs now travel to Sweden to face the Red Wings on Friday and the Minnesota Wild on Sunday as part of an NHL tour that includes away games. North America.