In the morning press conference, Sheldon Keefe stated, “Generally, you just try to make it seem as much like a regular game day.”
It struck me as a bizarre quote at the time. This is not just a regular game day. It’s the playoffs. Everything has to elevate across the board as you’re entering an elite tournament against a team that has gone to the last three Stanley Cup Finals and has won two of them.
I get the sentiment — he’s probably not trying to overhype it too much — but they came out for a game in April like it was the middle of November. They haven’t started almost any playoff game under Keefe on time, including the ones they actually win. The approach has consistently been easing into games or making furious rallies once they’re trailing.
They can’t get away with that through four straight series. Good teams do what Tampa Bay did tonight — they come out with their hair on fire, ready to take it to you.
The fact that the Leafs were at home — with a crowd that was absolutely rocking — only compounds matters. It’s fine that they scored right away and the team was a little flat; it happens. They can recover from that, and it’s not that uncommon. But they were down 3-0 after the first, and it arguably could have been worse.
The Leafs played maybe four reasonable minutes of hockey through the opening 20. They were just completely unprepared on all levels.
