Maple Leafs Coach Fuming About His Team's Response To Marchand Takedown on Liljegren

Now that we've learned that Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Timothy Liljegren will miss significant time after he was the victim of a can opener and a feet-first crash into the boards by the Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand, the talk has turned to what happened next that night... A whole lot of nothing.

Two days later, Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe is opening up about his team's notable lack of response—physically—to Marchand and the Bruins after the incident.

Sheldon Keefe says he “hated everything” about his team’s response to Brad Marchand taking out Timothy Liljegren.

Keefe: “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.”

— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) November 4, 2023

"I hated everything about it," said Keefe, holding nothing back. “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.” 

Translated: 'We wimped out on this one and it was unacceptable.'

Individual players have tried to explain their lack of action.  

Bertuzzi on shaking his head and smiling at Marchand: "People can perceive that however they want. I’m not going to explain myself." #Leafs

— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) November 4, 2023

Tyler Bertuzzi, who can be pretty feisty out on the ice, was merely seen shaking his head and smiling at Marchand after the incident. "People can perceive that however they want. I’m not going to explain myself," said the Leafs forward. 

Tough guy Ryan Reaves, who was basically brought in this season as a free agent to specifically deal with situations like this, said it's been dealt with amongst the players:

Reaves on the lack of response to the Marchand hit the other night; “It was addressed in the room. It’ll change going forward”.

— David Alter (@dalter) November 4, 2023

“It was addressed in the room. It’ll change going forward," insisted Reaves.   

As the game was in Boston, the Leafs weren't able to arrange to have Reaves out on the ice with Marchand, which, the enforcer says, is lucky for the Bruins' pest:

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

December 2nd, in Toronto—Leafs with the last change—is the rematch. 

Marchand was dirty as a rookie. He's dirty as a veteran, and he'll be dirty when he's 90 in a retirement home. #Leafs https://t.co/qAYwsNeiSp

— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) November 3, 2023

Photo: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports