Sheldon Keefe explains Murray injury, calls out Pontus Holmberg

The Toronto Maple Leafs were set to go with goaltender Matt Murray last night against his former team in the Ottawa Senators, but a last minute change was made. 

Goaltender Ilya Samsonov would ultimately get the start thanks to an adductor injury that had been nagging at Murray proved too costly for him to suit up. And the game would get away from the Leafs, as Ottawa cruised to a 6-2 victory at Scotiabank Arena.

"It put Sammy in a terrible spot," head coach Sheldon Keefe explained. "There is that. A terrible spot. And we didn’t take care of him when he was in there."

"I thought we played a great first period. I don’t think it affected the team in that way. I was really happy with our first period. At four-on-four, we fell and lost our structure there, opening up the middle of the ice on the first goal. From there, I thought we were really good. We didn’t give up any chances beyond the four-on-four goal. They didn’t have a scoring chance beyond that, and we had plenty."

"There was a lot to like about the first period, but clearly, from the drop of the puck in the second period, we were not the same team."

Meanwhile, forward Pontus Holmberg was elevated to a top-6 role, skating on a line with Calle Jarnkrok and William Nylander. However, he would find himself in the penalty box a bit too much for Keefe's liking.

"Six minutes in penalties is too much," Keefe lamented of Holmberg's performance. 

"You can’t lose like that on home ice," Keefe continued. "You can’t have a goalie who has been giving us absolutely everything, comes in a tough spot, and you have a performance like that in front of him in the second and third periods. You can’t have that."