Maple Leafs facing 'best-of-3' after loss to Lightning in Game 4
Miss chance to put stranglehold on Eastern First Round, seek first playoff series win since 2004
The coach's terse answers brought with them a more pessimistic vibe, however. So did his team's performance on the ice, a 7-3 loss in Game 4 at Amalie Arena on Sunday.
Now, the pressure builds on a team that has not won a Stanley Cup Playoff series since 2004.
The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2 heading back to Toronto for Game 5 on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET: ESPN2, BSSUN, CBC, SN, TVAS). By getting a split in Tampa, the Maple Leafs have regained home-ice advantage against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
"We came here, and it was a best-of-5 series with three games in this building and two at home." Keefe said. "Now it's a best-of-3 with two at in our building, so it was a successful road trip in that sense.
"When you lose a game 2-1 or the way we did tonight, it really doesn't matter. You wash it and you move on."
If Keefe was trying to preach optimism, his moribund tone and short answers suggested otherwise. Normally his press conferences last eight to 10 minutes; the one after the loss Sunday was less than four.
Here's the reality: The Maple Leafs are battling more than the Lightning; they are battling history, something that has not been on their side.
On one hand, you have a Tampa Bay team that oozes resiliency. With the win in Game 4, the Lightning are 16-0 in the postseason following a loss since the beginning of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The last time they lost two consecutive postseason games was in 2019, when they were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round.
They haven't lost a playoff series since.
The Maple Leafs, on the other hand, have not won a playoff series in 18 years. That includes five consecutive first-round eliminations with a core group that has featured forwards Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner and William Nylander, and defenseman Morgan Rielly.
Sunday provided an opportunity to take a huge step in changing that narrative. To that end, players went into the game talking about having a killer instinct with the chance to take a 3-1 series lead.
In one sense, they were right. There was a killer instinct on hand at a raucous Amalie Arena. Only it was the Lightning who had it.
"We weren't at the required level," Keefe said, summing up his team's performance in six words.
Indeed, Tampa Bay rocketed out of the gates and built a 1-0 lead one minute into the game on a goal by captain Steven Stamkos. Eight minutes hadn't elapsed before it was 3-0 after goals from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Pat Maroon. Second-period goals by Ross Colton and Corey Perry made it 5-0 and sealed the fate of Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell, who was pulled after allowing five goals on 16 shots and replaced by rookie Eric Kallgren.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Saturday that he wasn't worried about his team being able to score against Campbell. His players backed up his claim in Game 4. After being shut out 5-0 in Game 1, the Lightning have scored 12 goals against Campbell in 144:10 since.
While the teams have alternated victories through the first four games, Stamkos said now is the time to take control.
"This group has proven it knows what it takes at this time of the year and we know how to respond," Stamkos said. "Now that we've done that twice in this series, let's go out and grab the series lead. That's got to be the mentality.
"That energy that we come out with after a loss, let's do it the next game."
The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, can't replicate their slow start, or the Lightning might very well dictate Game 5 too.
"They came out hot," Toronto defenseman Jake Muzzin said. "We were on our heels chasing the game. We got down early and it's tough to come back."
Especially when they continue to go to the penalty box with regularity. The Maple Leafs have taken 32 penalties through four games, a trend Muzzin said has to stop. He said the team is aware that games are being officiated tighter and need to adapt.
The Lightning went 1-for-8 on the power play in Game 4.
"We should know that by now," Muzzin said. "This is our fourth game and we're taking way too many penalties."
With the series shifting to Toronto, Campbell will be the player most under the spotlight. Colton's first of two goals was probably the only one he'd really like back, but the Maple Leafs will have little chance to advance if their goalie doesn't perform.
"It's just one game," Campbell said. "Obviously, (I) expect myself to make a lot of saves on the ones they had tonight. But learn from it and be ready for the next one."
