Sheldon Keefe: “It's hard to take”

Despite some shoddy goaltending from Ilya Samsonov, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to escape Enterprise Center last night with a 5-4 overtime win thanks to the extra session heroics of forward William Nylander. 

Of course, there was an incident late in the third period in which forward Zach Aston-Reese was victimized by a blatant high sticking incident from Blues forward Brandon Saad that somehow went unnoticed by all four on-ice officials. Needless to say, head coach Sheldon Keefe was less than amused. 

And afterward, Keefe explained that the incident certainly was a bit "hard to take". 

"Watching Zach Aston-Reese getting sewn up on the table there after the game is a little hard to take, but we are happy with the two points," he said. 

Despite having secured two points in the standings, the Leafs won't be happy at having surrendered a two goal lead. 

"Coming off of the break, you are not quite sure what to expect from the guys or from the game," Keefe said. "You are really just hoping to get out of it healthy with two points. To that end, I liked how our guys were resilient and found a way."

"We will pack up, head out to Arizona, and have a good practice tomorrow."

Meanwhile, here's what he had to say about his team's performance on the ice.

"I mean, as a general rule, you don’t get too critical of these games coming out of the break — even less so when you get two points," he said. "It is a 5-4 hockey game, so there is a lot going on. It is a little bit chaotic. I didn’t like that when we were in control of the game in the second period with a two-goal lead, we gave it back."

"You have to like how our guys fought back. We played with the lead for [most] of the game. We never trailed. In that sense, on the road, that is a job well done."

How about the play of forward Calle Jarnkork? 

"I liked it a lot," Keefe said. "He showed again that he is a good, smart, veteran player. He can make a play when it is time to make a play. He can score when it is time to score. I thought he did good things."

"I am not going to be too critical or too overly positive on a night like this here tonight. We are just happy to get the two points. We will get into more of a regular routine and I am sure feel a lot better next time out."

The Leafs will be taking on the Arizona Coyotes tomorrow for their first ever visit to the maligned Mullett Arena.