Toronto Maple Leafs re-establishing identity under Sheldon Keefe

Following a third straight win under head coach Sheldon Keefe, the Toronto Maple Leafs are slowly regaining their identity.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs hired Sheldon Keefe, many saw the tough task ahead of him considering the team was in shambles and had many glaring errors.

Slowly but surely, however, the Leafs are starting to look more like the team many of us expected to see. Who knew that all it took was a new voice to get them there—many fans are probably raising their hands right now.

With each game, we are starting to see Toronto’s identity being re-established in many ways even in a dominant 6-0 win over a Detroit Red Wings team that they should be beating. Not only were the Leafs outshooting the Red Wings 40-16 at one point with 42 after two periods, but they are starting to do away with a troubling trend that plagued them under Mike Babcock.

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Considering how many times the Leafs were chasing the game, it should be a relief to see them focus on getting off to a better start in the first period.

Of course, the situation with Jimmy Howard being forced to leave with an injury for Jonathan Bernier who was clearly dealing with an illness that forced Howard to start in his place.

The Leafs were relentless on the forecheck and continue to make it a point to create more scoring chances in front of the net which seems like a no-brainer. They also did an admirable job of making sure that Detroit didn’t do that same.

Toronto’s breakout has also been the main difference in ensuring they prioritize maintaining possession and having smoother breakouts.

“We’ve tried not to stray too far from the couple key things that we focused on last week,” Keefe said of the practice time. “We just tried to build upon it and add some depth to it and just tried to get extra reps and get that right before we start expanding out.”

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The real challenge going forward will be doing this against tougher opponents which will likely come when they play the Colorado Avalanche again next week and travel to take on the St. Louis Blues.

What was also an important development was Frederik Andersen getting his first shutout in over a calendar year after the Leafs weren’t able to help him get one against the Arizona Coyotes a week ago.

It also helped Keefe to have more practice time this week to work with the players with limited time on the road when he took over.

What are your thoughts on another positive performance for the Leafs? What has been the most noticeable difference with Keefe? Let us know in the comments below.