Jarry shuts the door on Leafs
Penguins goalie spoils party as Keefe marks two years as Leafs coach
Sheldon Keefe’s two-year anniversary as Maple Leafs head coach turned out to be a dud.
And despite his team’s strong response after a tough start to the schedule, he’ll have plenty to contemplate as Toronto hits the road.
Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for his second straight shutout as the Pittsburgh Penguins picked up a 2-0 victory Saturday to snap the Leafs’ five-game winning streak.
“Our guys wanted it just as bad,” Keefe said. “We lost to a good team that played better than us.”
Jake Guentzel and Jeff Carter scored for Pittsburgh (7-6-4).
Jack Campbell stopped 29 shots for Toronto (12-6-1), which had won 10 of its last 11.
“We competed hard,” said the Leafs netminder. “Pittsburgh’s a good team, they’re quick.
“We played our game pretty well.” The Leafs suited up for their NHL-high 13th home date of the season, and will head out of town for six of the next seven beginning Sunday in the New York Islanders’ shiny new UBS Arena before a swing through California.
While the Leafs have been pocketing plenty of victories following a 2-4-1 start thanks to strong special teams, commitment to defensive structure and Campbell’s outstanding form, offence at 5-on-5 continues to be a challenge with 30 goals in 19 outings.
“We’ve been finding ways to win ... but it’s top of mind,” said Keefe, who replaced the fired Mike Babcock as head coach on Nov. 19, 2019. “We’re talking about it a lot, not just tonight.
“It’s something we’re certainly aware of.”
Leafs winger Mitch Marner said a troubling trend of not making life difficult for the opposition netminder continued.
“We do give a lot of goalies these free nights,” he said. “Not having enough people around (the net), and then also second opportunities — something that we do talk about a lot.
“We just need to really bear down.”
Toronto’s red-hot power play, which had scored 10 goals over the past 10 games, couldn’t get anything going, including a late 5-on-3 that lasted nearly two minutes.
“Just like how we lost to a good team, we lost to a good penalty kill,” Keefe said. “They were just flat out better than us.”
The Penguins, who have dealt with a COVID-19 outbreak and a number of key injuries, including to star centres Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, won consecutive games for the first time in 2021-22 on the heels of Thursday’s 6-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
“I feel pretty good,” said Crosby, who dressed for just the fifth time thanks to off-season wrist surgery and a positive COVID-19 test. “You sit around for 10 days ... it’s nice to be playing games.”
Jarry, meanwhile, continued a string of strong performances to extend his shutout streak to 151 minutes and six seconds.
“As I get to play more, I’m feeling the game a lot better,” he said following his 14th start. “It’s making me a better goalie ... being able to go night in and night out, just focusing on my game.”