Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares called out by head coach Sheldon Keefe

By Abhishek Dilta

Modified Mar 27, 2024 10:33 GMT

Toronto Maple Leafs HC Sheldon Keefe expressed disappointment with his players' performance in the 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Criticising Tavares and the Maple Leafs core, per THN's David Alter, Sheldon Keefe said -

John Tavares has been the example for us. He's been outstanding for us for a long period of time. He himself got carried away tonight. That's our captain.

Keefe said that instead of building on a strong period and continuing to do well, the team overdid it, which he described as "immature." He expressed disappointment with the lack of maturity shown by both experienced and inexperienced players, highlighting the mistakes made throughout the game (via The Hockey News):

"Instead of having a strong period and building on it and continuing to do the things that we had done well, I thought we just overdid it," Keefe lamented.

"It was just really immature, really immature all the way through our game. I thought it was immature from our most experienced players and our leaders. And then our players, who are immature, our inexperienced guys...we made lots of mistakes here today."

Sheldon Keefe was asked about the team's performance, referred to the club's history, and once again highlighted the experienced players. The Leafs HC said that such performances have been recurring, particularly among experienced individuals:

"Well, it has happened a lot for our group over the years. And I'm talking about experienced people. And that came back tonight, and I thought the game invited it," Keefe said.

"I just thought we got incredibly sloppy and careless, and that's disappointing."

With 11 games remaining, the Maple Leafs are third in the Atlantic Division, four points over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Meanwhile, the New Jersey Devils are fifth in the Metro Division and five points off second place.

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How the New Jersey Devils beat the Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs v New Jersey Devils

On Tuesday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs were up against the New Jersey Devils at Scotiabank Arena.

Auston Matthews scored to take his tally to 59 for the season. Tyler Bertuzzi and William Nylander were the other two goalscorers for the club in the defeat. Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier and Curtiz Lacar accumulated three points apiece in the matchup.

The Devils' Jake Allen posted an SV% of 933 with 42 saves, while the Leafs' Joseph Woll made 19 saves. The Maple Leafs will next be up against the Washington Capitals, while the Devils face the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.