After the opening 20 minutes on Saturday night, it seemed like the Toronto Maple Leafs would cruise to a second consecutive victory over the basement-dwelling Columbus Blue Jackets. Then they fell flat in the second period en route to a 4-3 defeat.
"Just got outworked, outplayed," head coach Sheldon Keefe said postgame about his team's performance in the middle frame, according to TSN's Mark Masters.
"I can't (explain it)," he added. "You guys talked to the players. I'm sure you asked them the same questions. I can't do the work for them."
Keefe added that "effort" and "competitiveness" were the issues rather than execution.
The Leafs entered the first intermission with a 2-0 lead after controlling 75.82% of the expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick. However, they only controlled 42.08% of the expected goals the rest of the way.
Entering the third period down 3-2, Keefe's messaging was simple.
"(The players) got to make the decision how important it is to them," he said. "That's really it."
Despite sitting fifth in the NHL in points percentage, Toronto tends to play down to lesser opponents, such as the 32nd-ranked Blue Jackets. The Leafs own a 5-4-4 record against the NHL's eight worst teams this season, but they're 27-10-4 against the rest of the league.
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