"Keefe sounds terrified" - NHL analyst concerned after Sheldon Keefe's comment on Leafs home ice

Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe spoke to the media about having home-ice advantage for Thursday's much-anticipated Game 6 against the Boston Bruins. In Round 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Maple Leafs have won and lost a game each at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena.

On TSN's SC with Jay Onrait, NHL analyst Bryan Hayes shared his take to Sheldon Keefe's comments on Toronto home-ice advantage. Hayes pointed out that Maple Leafs struggled at home a lot, which may have sparked the comment from Keefe. Hayes said:

"I think Keefe sounds terrified of being on home ice, which he probably should and it really speaks to how much losing they've done at Scotiabank Arena.

"He is trying to psychologically get to a point where it's a road game at home, which again is absurd."

Hayes didn't take well to Keefe's "just like any other game" approach to Game 6 and said:

"He can't do that. You can't treat it like it's a road game because it's not. But it speaks to the ineptitude at ome, quite frankly, the fact that they've continued to lose six straight."

Hayes opined that majority of Leafs fans would have give up on not only this season, but also Toronto Maple Leafs' current team with the Core 4 players and Sheldon Keefe, if not for Matthew Knies' Game 4 OT winner. He said:

"I would say the large majotiy of Leafs fans were ready to checkout. Not only on the season but possibly the whole philosophy of this team - the Core 4, Sheldon Keefe, Brendan Shanahan. One win is gonna drag a lot of people back."

Hayes ended his take by saying that the Leafs and Keefe need to make full use of their home-ice advantage on Thursday night and give their fans a reason to cheer them on. He said:

"Sheldon Keefe better embrace it and they (Leafs) need to redeem himself. We talked about that last night, you owe it to your fans to not only to push it to seven but win on home ice."

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What did Sheldon Keefe say about Leafs' home ice advantage?

Ahead of Thursday's elimination Game 6 vs Boston Bruins, Sheldon Keefe spoke about having home-ice advantage in an interview:

"Quite honestly, means nothing. We've gotta play the exact same way wherever it is. We're happy to give our fans another opportunity to play in front of them.

"We have to appraoch the game no different than we have on the road, in terms of our plan and what's required. We don't have to impress anyone. We don't have to do this or that. We need to win the hockey game."

Sheldon Keefe also addressed forward Auston Matthews' status ahead of Game 6 and said:

"He skated today. No update otherwise."

The Toronto Maple Leafs won Game 5 without Matthews. He was ruled out owing to an illness, which had forced him to exit Game 4 at the end of the second period.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman speculated that there's more to Auston Matthews being ruled out than just the reported illness. Friedman said:

"The illness doesn't last like this. I think something else developed in the aftermath. Whether it was a fallout from that or an injury, obviously we're not gonna know right now, but I don't believe that this is the illness anymore."