Furious Sheldon Keefe backs a zamboni over his players

To say that Toronto Maple Leafs head coach was displeased with his team following their disappointing 3-2 setback against the visiting New York Islanders at Scotiabank Arena Monday night would be a major understatement.

Not only did the source of the Leafs' bench boss' fury come from the fact that his team wasn't able to put away a struggling Islanders club, but was especially compounded by a 2nd period blunder that allowed Kyle MacLean to skate in alone on goaltender Ilya Samsonov after promptly exiting the penalty box and scoring his 1st career goal.

And afterward, Keefe compared Toronto's defensive breakdown to being less than "peewee stuff".

"This is the National Hockey League. That’s peewee stuff," Keefe said after the game. "You play on the power play in the National Hockey League, they should not get behind you coming out of the penalty box."

"As I said, we played well enough to win the game, but we did just enough to lose," he continued. "The second and third goals are gifts. You can’t give gifts when the goalie is playing the way that he is at the other end. Goals are so hard to come by. You battle your way back to tie the game. You can’t do that — not if you want to win games."

The Leafs got goals from captain John Tavares as well as Mitch Marner; Auston Matthews picked up an assist on Marner's goal to extend his point streak to seven games. However, it was former Maple Leaf Pierre Engvall who scored the winning goal for his new team late in the game's final frame.

MacLean's goal was especially a significant moment for his father, John MacLean, who played in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils and helped them to the Stanley Cup in 1995.

“It’s been a long journey,” said the younger MacLean. “I always had that inner belief, but it’s cool now, and you kind of feel like the hard work is beginning to pay off.”

The Leafs will attempt to regroup when they bring in the visiting Dallas Stars to Scotiabank Arena tomorrow night.

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