Sheldon Keefe calls out his team after Game 7 loss again

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Marvin Azrak
May 5, 2024 (8:37)

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Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe went right at his team following their Game 7 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins.

He summed it up bluntly.

When teams play the Leafs, they set up the game for the Leafs to beat themselves.

Fans didn't take it well.

He acknowledged how close it was, with Game 7 going to overtime, but ultimately, it just didn't go their way.

He did like his team's effort though.

Obviously, the series is very close. It is the thinnest of margins you can get�Game 7 overtime. It is very disappointing not to come out on the right side of it. I loved how our team fought to put us in this position to compete, play in this game, and have a chance to be one shot away.

As for the goalie situation, it sounds like an injury to Joseph Woll forced their hand.

Joe was injured late in the game the other night in Game 6. We didn't practice yesterday, but we traveled, and it wasn't any better. In fact, it was a little bit worse yesterday. We told Samsonov that he had to stay ready last night. There was a chance that Joe wouldn't be able to go, but Joe was going to do all he could to try to be ready. Ultimately, he just wasn't able to play. We had to go to Sammy, who I noticed�the night before and this morning�went through parts of the routine as though he was playing. At that time, we still thought Joe was going to play.

It's unclear if Keefe will stick around but if so, he still has hope for this core.

In this series, I thought we showed signs of a team that could win. We came up just short tonight, but there are reasons for me to believe that this team will win.