After a long stretch of disappointing play, criticism and self-analysis, the Toronto Maple Leafs moved on from Mike Babcock on Wednesday and began the Sheldon Keefe era on the right foot with a 3-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Thursday.
“I think the guys just went out and played with confidence and felt like they could take control of the game.” Keefe said following his first NHL victory. “I thought once we settled into the game, we were full marks and the guys played well. More importantly than how we played I just thought we had good energy on the bench. I was really impressed.”
Tyson Barrie, Pierre Engvall, and Auston Matthews scored, and Frederik Andersen made 30 saves for his 10th victory, which snapped their six-game losing skid.
Toronto appeared to be a looser and much happier group, and played more effectively after some tactical adjustments, including their defense jumping into the offensive attack, which led to Barrie’s first goal of the season late in the first period.
“We just talked about the fact we were probably going to mix and match our D pairings in different situations throughout the game.” Keefe said, “(Barrie is) a guy we're trying to mix things up a little bit with here and get him going. Today obviously the goal is a big weight off his shoulders. We're going to continue to try to do those things.”
Engvall was a primary penalty killer with the Marlies and was inserted on the Leafs struggling short-handed unit, which paid dividends late in the second period, as the lanky 23-year-old pulled away on a breakaway and beat Darcy Kuemper between the legs for his first career goal.
“Any time you see a guy score his first NHL goal, it’s a big deal. I was happy it came on the penalty kill. That’s an area of Pierre’s game that wasn’t there before he came to the Marlies. He was given that responsibility and he has really learned to the point where I trusted him here in an NHL game to do it.” Keefe said. “I thought, not just the goal, he was good in other areas of the penalty kill as well. I used him and Andreas Johnsson today on the penalty kill as two new guys with lots of speed and tenacity on the puck.”
The key to the victory once again was steady goaltending by Andersen, who came within 17 seconds of a shutout and kept Arizona from taking the lead in the first on a great glove save on Carl Soderberg, and allowed the Leafs the emotional boost of scoring the opening goal for only the sixth time in 24 games.
The club will now look to keep the momentum going in Colorado on Saturday, as they take on former Leaf Nazem Kadri and the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
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