For me, I wouldn't fire Keefe for the sake of firing Keefe. At least not before doing something larger with the actual players.
Bruce Boudreau is an easy 'no'. Bourdreau's crowning achievement in his 15+ year NHL career is a Conference Finals loss and he had a ton of very successful regular season teams fall short. He is just more of the same as what we've already had, except over a much larger sample size. And the last two times he made the playoffs, he lost 4-1 in the first round.
Gerard Gallant can't stay anywhere for very long, even though he has had some playoff success. No idea why, but his run with the Rangers is a major concern. A lot of his top guys totally disappeared, and had it not been for Shestyerkin, he would have had a quick exit last year too.
Q is just not happening.
I think Laviolette is already going to the Rangers...
So as far as I can see, we are either going with unproven again (which I would be fine with if it is the right guy) or we are keeping Keefe.
As far as what Keefe or the coaching staff can do differently, I am not sure there really is anything. He has experimented. He has tried different combinations. If people are getting pissed off at him for not constantly or immediately throwing things in the blender as soon as things are not working, or benching guys, then IDK... Cooper rarely threw things in the blender when Tampa was going through rough patches in the playoffs. He is also not benching his top guys when they are not scoring... Maybe he rides the hot hand more, although Keefe did the same thing with Lafferty and Kampf yesterday and they were eventually on the ice for the OT goal against.
I'll take this from Maurice's presser today:
A lot of people on the outside would assume the coach has his thumb on everything. Where did it come from with you to give the players more freedom than most people would think a coach would allow?
Maurice: I am maybe not articulating it right. We have a set of things that we do — a set of standards designed to a concept that fits the style of play of the personnel that you have. But we don’t sit with them on the plane, on the bus, or in the room.
There comes a time when you are standing behind the bench, you go to say something, and someone else is saying it. That is way more impactful.
“We have to pick up that F3 through the middle.” Someone else says it, so I don’t have to say that anymore.
If you give up a goal and three guys get up and down the bench, “We’re fine. We’re fine.” I don’t have to say that anymore.
That is more what I mean. We have a job, but the players eventually take it over.
I don't see that happening with many guys on the bench. I am not sure how much the players hold each other or themselves accountable out there, and the fans are immediately putting it all on Keefe to hold guys accountable.
Are there things that he could have done better or differently? Sure. But ultimately, in this series and really in every other series, a lot of it just comes down to execution. We are getting good looks and then we can't score. Or our goalie lets in a weak goal after making a series of great stops. Or our PP goes dry. Or we are missing on basic passes and break outs with minimal pressure and we are either turning it over or icing (literally did it 3 times in OT). Or a defenseman misses a basic coverage or makes a stupid mistake after playing well for 95% of the game. Or guys are not moving their legs and winning battles. It would be easier if we were just getting run over all of the time or it was clear that Keefe was not getting the most out of his players (similar to Babcock), but at this point, the players haven't really proven they have more to give than what we've seen and that there may not be any coach on the face of the earth which can change that.
And that is related to Dubas too. Dubas has done what a lot of the great GM's have done: Trusted his core of extremely talented young players to rise to the occasion while building a strong team around them. He has given them every chance to be successful. But they've let him and everyone else down when it mattered most. And at this point, they are probably out of chances and may be taking the coaching and management staff down with them.
Of course, they could do the unthinkable and still win. I believe this team is fully capable of doing it. Of course if they do lose, and if Keefe/Dubas are gone, I have little doubt both will land on their feet and have a nice amount of success elsewhere (potentially including some Cups). I think the same could apply to many of the players on this team (especially guys like Rielly and Nylander). But I just hope that whoever does take over in that scenario can continue a lot of the great work both Keefe and Dubas have done in bringing success to this franchise and that more than anything, the players (whichever ones end up staying/coming here) start executing in whatever they need to do (make saves, score goals, limit stupid mistakes, etc.)... Because if that doesn't happen, we can rotate through every coach/GM combo to fanfare of fans and media and it won't make any difference. Didn't make a difference in most of the series we've played over the last 7 years despite being the favourite and in complete control in the vast majority of them.