Even so, the head coach of the Maple Leafs cleared a lot of ground.
After leading the Toronto Raptors to a commanding lead, Keefe scorched the squad for their “immature” play in the last two frames of their 6-3 defeat to the New Jersey Devils.
After twenty minutes, the Leafs were ahead 25-10 on the shot clock, but they were behind 2-1 against one of the most potent teams in the NHL off the rush.
The home team’s organization was in shambles after the half, and the Devils took advantage of numerous mistakes.
“Instead of having a strong (second) period and building on it and continuing to do the things that we had done well, I thought we just overdid it,” Keefe stated. “Very immature for the entirety of our game.
“It was immature from our most experienced players and our leaders, and then our players who are immature — our inexperienced guys — made lots of mistakes.”
For New Jersey (36-33-4), which has won four straight games as the team makes a late push for a postseason berth, Jake Allen was outstanding in stopping 42 shots.
His first period was “tiring,” he remarked. “But over the course of 82 games, there’s gonna be times like that against a really good offensive team.”
For the Devils, Nico Hischier scored twice, including one into the empty net, and added two assists. Timo Meier also added a goal and an assist. Max Willman and Luke Hughes supplied the remaining offensive, and Jesper Bratt contributed three assists. Two more were added by Curtis Lazar.
Travis Green, the temporary head coach of New Jersey, stated, “Our goalie played phenomenal in the first.” “The speed and the skill of their team … took us a little while to catch up.”
Toronto (40-22-9), led by Auston Matthews with his NHL-leading 59th goal, while Tyler Bertuzzi and William Nylander answered. Joseph Woll made 19 saves for Toronto. T.J. Brodie provided two helpers.
Regarding his team’s dismal performance, Matthews remarked, “I don’t think that’s stuff you want to see in your game at this point in the year.” “We’ve got to make sure we’re dialed in for a full 60 minutes.”
With the postseason less than a month away, the Leafs are now sitting third in the Atlantic Division, while the Devils are five points off of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
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