“It was a big distraction… It doesn't help what we want to accomplish on the ice, but it's exciting. I understand”.

Sheldon Keefe told the media following the Maple Leafs' 5-4 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings that dropped their team record to 46-24-10.

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On the status of Bobby McMann and Jake McCabe after being injured in the game:

Bobby has a lower back injury. I don't know how serious it is.

Jake looks like he's going to be fine. He could not come back, mainly because of the swelling around his eyes. His vision was not affected by the swelling, but it has improved now. If this trend continues, it will be good.

On how the team came back from a 4-1 deficit:

The players decided it was important. That's right. We know how to play. When it's game time, we'll show what we can do.

Was there a message to the team after the first period:

I was short, but it put more on them. They had to make a decision.

For a long time we showed that we knew how to play, but that wasn't us. We needed to be better.

Once we decided it was important, you saw the difference.

As Auston Matthews touches the puck, the crowd roars:

It was a big concern. It doesn't help what we want to achieve on the ice. But it's interesting. I understand.

Especially when it grows to 69. They are waiting. Now you are feeding it. I am feeding him. I want it to happen. I wanted to dedicate it to the fans.

But I'm glad the game is over. Let's move on.

On balancing fans' desire to see 70 goals against their desire to rest the last two games:

I don't think these fans will go on the road with us. We make decisions that we think are best for the team.

We have guys coming in now. We need to dress up 18 skaters. Some guys won't be available for us. This will be a factor. The salary cap is. We can only have so many guys. We have a lot to deal with lately.

Ilya Samsonov scored four goals in the first period:

In 10 minutes of the first period, we took a 1:0 lead. The shootout is 5-5. We were in a strange human rush at that time, which we could not control properly. It was 1-1. We didn't do well from there.

I don't have that in Sammy. It is the image of the group. But it was important to play with pride. So it was important to Sammy.

We discussed sending him out. There was no consensus on what to do with him. I felt our team was going to be better and I thought Sammy should be a part of that. I'm glad it worked that way. He was outstanding.

In the end, he was the reason we got the points. He did not allow them to score the next goal. I'm glad the guys responded.

On Max Domi's penalty-taking tendencies:

I don't like the penalty he took tonight (at the end of the third period). I don't think Max will like this penalty. I think in many other things he takes a good penalty. Tonight was not one of them.

On the importance of cleaning up some defensive play from recent losses to New Jersey and Detroit before the playoffs:

I think our team showed how we can play. So there was no need to say much during the first break. I'd like to think we'll be ready for that time when the game is competitive and important.

We've been playing really good hockey through this last little stretch. We had some moments where we weren't confident and it wasn't always consistent, but overall I think we did a really good job as a team.

I hated the first period. I hated the last 10 minutes of the first period. I thought we started well. We got a big power play goal that got us going.

I thought it was good for the first 10 minutes. Auston hit the crossbar all by himself. We scored a power play goal. It looked like one of those nights where our guys thought it was going to be easy. We know how that goes.

Not much is going to be easy from here.