Keefe calls out his team after opening night loss

The Toronto Maple Leafs entered the 2022-23 season with sky high expectations, making their opening night loss to the Montreal Canadiens a very frustrating one.

Not much went right for the Leafs in this one, who were horrid defensively and didn't get a great effort in goal from Matt Murray. It appears that head coach Sheldon Keefe has a similar assessment, as he let it be known he was not at all happy with his team when speaking with media postgame.

«It was early season sloppiness, but I don't expect that,» Keefe said. «For everything our team has been through together, it's unacceptable. We have to be way more responsible.»

Also rare for the Leafs was that, despite putting up three goals in the contest, Auston Matthews was held off the board entirely while Mitch Marner was limited to just one assist. That said, their 23 turnovers on the night played a much bigger factor in the loss.

«Careless,» Keefe said. «I expect more, our group should expect more. Not good enough. We deserved to lose.»

It isn't often a coach calls his team out like this after game one of the season, but it goes to show how much this group believes in themselves this season. The silver lining here is that they will have a chance to bounce back tomorrow night in their home opener which will see them face off against the Washington Capitals.

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