The first victory for Sheldon Keefe against the Maple Leafs is going to have to wait for at least another season.
When William Nylander scored in overtime on Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena, giving Toronto a 4-3 win, it gave the Leafs a regular-season, three-game sweep of the New Jersey Devils in 2024-25, including a pair of earlier wins in Newark.
Still, Keefe appreciated his initial return to Toronto as coach of the Devils, some eight months after he was fired by the Leafs and quickly snapped up by New Jersey.
“I certainly enjoyed it, up until our last mistake when we give Willie his breakaway,” Keefe said.
“It was a great day, good to see a lot of people. Like I expected, once the puck dropped, I sort of forgot where I was. You’re coaching hockey, you’re in the moment.
“There’s a lot of things that are familiar, from the sights and sounds, from the arena, but you’re so into the game, you’re not really overly aware or your surroundings. Overall, it’s a good day, but we will move past it.”
During a video tribute to Keefe in the first period, he was engrossed in a conversation with a referee and missed most of it.
“I have to be honest, I didn’t see it,” Keefe said. “You’re into the game and I kind of lost track of it.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“For them to take the time to acknowledge me, I’m very appreciative of them doing that. More importantly, I was appreciative of how I was treated over my time here. I’m grateful for all of that.”
The Devils had three one-goal leads before Leafs captain Auston Matthews tied the game with pinpoint accuracy, firing the puck over goalie Jacob Markstrom’s right shoulder on the short side with less than five minutes remaining in the third period.
“You can’t let Matthews have a puck like that,” Keefe said. “Still (keeping him) to the outside, but he’s going to be able to score from there. That one hurts.
“They have world-class players and you make mistakes, there was a mistake on the Nylander goal, the first one, and a mistake on the Matthews goal to tie the game. You can’t make those mistakes against this team.”
There was an impromptu moment before the game that will serve as a terrific memory for the Keefe family.
Keefe usually doesn’t head to the bench to watch the pre-game warmup, but did so on Thursday.
Keefe and his wife Jackie got a photo with their sons, Landon and Wyatt, on the bench. Jackie and the boys have stayed at the family home in Oakville during Keefe’s first season with the Devils.
“If I do step out for warmup, it’s usually in a new environment, so I wanted to get out there and take it in for a bit before I got out for the game,” Keefe said. “I just happened to be on my way to the bench and unbeknownst to me, my family was enjoying the new restaurant (under the seats) and poked their heads out.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“I grabbed the kids and came out to the bench and got them to watch warmup for a bit. The photo was impromptu.
“It’s a nice moment. If anything, what I’m trying to do with my time in the NHL is to make sure my family is as big a part of it they can be, especially when they’re not with me full time.”
Keefe said he was not necessarily in touch with his former players in Toronto, noting the two earlier games against the Leafs. As it was, he figured he left them a little parting gift.
“Everybody is busy doing their own thing and you try not to make this bigger than it needed to be,” Keefe said.
“Disappointed we don’t leave with two points, but I probably owed the Leafs an extra point.”
X: @koshtorontosun