Sheldon Keefe admits he called another coach to apologize
On Thursday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 6-2. The game was relatively close until the 3rd period when the Leafs were able to take a commanding lead. But it was an incident in the third period that caught the attention of some fans and the Philadelphia Flyers coaches.
With Head Coach John Tortorella suspended, Assistant Coach Brad Shaw was behind the bench. Midway through the 3rd period, the Flyers took a penalty sending the Maple Leafs to the power play. With the score 6-1, precedent usually indicates a team wouldn't send out their top power play unit. Exactly what Sheldon Keefe did.
The Flyers and their staff were understandably upset by this decision. Especially with this coming less than a month after Morgan Rielly Cross checked Ridley Greig after he broke the code.
After the game Keefe was asked about this situation and he provided the following context.
Already reached out to explain
"I got no intention of doing that ... We had tired people on our bench ... I got to manage my team & my bench ... They got a shortie out of it"
Trying to double up some of our third & fourth line guys & then we get a power play & you don't want to put the top guys out, but the other guys were exhausted"
It's nice to hear a head coach provide context around a decision, especially when Keefe quickly replaced this unit with Ryan Reaves and Connor Dewar. As mentioned, using the fourth line on the power play, ultimately cost the Leafs of short-handed goal against.
Which brings the question in a blowout game are teams required to play their lesser players?
| POLL | ||
In a blowout game are teams required to play their lesser players? | ||
| Yes, follow the code | 56 | 21.4 % |
| No, play who you want | 117 | 44.7 % |
| It's up to the coach | 89 | 34 % |
| List of polls | ||
