Keefe: 'I hated everything about' Maple Leafs' response to Marchand hit

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe voiced his displeasure with his team's response to Brad Marchand's hit on Timothy Liljegren.

"I hated everything about it," Keefe said on Saturday. "I've addressed it."

He continued, "It's not what we want to be about. At times, we've responded very well in those situations in the past. It's about consistency, though, so we've addressed it."

Maple Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves said it was difficult to tell exactly what happened on the collision from the bench.

"In real-time, it didn't look like anything," Reaves told The Hockey News' David Alter. "I think you can form your own opinion on what happened based on the player. It didn't look overly malicious, but it looked like there was some intent there."

Timothy Liljegren has been helped down the tunnel and has left the game after this play against Boston. pic.twitter.com/KOJ6YZ3XMq

- Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 3, 2023

Liljegren sustained a high ankle sprain on the play and was placed on long-term injured reserve on Saturday. He'll miss at least 10 games and won't be eligible to return until Nov. 30 against the Seattle Kraken.

Reaves said he was disappointed not to have a chance at Marchand during the remainder of the contest.

"It's just lucky I wasn't on the ice with him," he said. "Unfortunately, they had last change, so I didn't get any shifts against them. That's hockey."

Keefe disagreed that the onus was on Reaves to respond, wanting more from the team as a whole.

"To me, it's less about that," Toronto's head coach said. "Brad Marchand doesn't care about Ryan Reaves or anybody else in the league. That's well-established.

"It's more about the team response. There's a lot of other players wearing the Bruins' colors that we can make life harder on them."

The 5-3-2 Maple Leafs take on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

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