Keefe on Game 1 loss: 'I thought we made mistakes'

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said Tuesday that mistakes by his team proved costly in a series-opening loss to the Florida Panthers.

Coming off of eliminating the Tamp Bay Lightning in six games, the Maple Leafs dropped Game 1 of their second-round series 4-2 on home ice Tuesday.

"I thought we made mistakes, now credit to Florida because of how they played, they force you to make mistakes, but I thought we made some mistakes here tonight that we didn't necessarily make in the last series," Keefe said post-game.

Toronto trailed 2-0 in the second period before rallying to tie the game at 2-2. In the dying minutes of the period, though, the Maple Leafs gave up a breakaway to Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe, who scored to put the Panthers back ahead for good.

"We give up a breakaway to really the one guy we definitely don't want to give a breakaway to," Keefe said of the goal. "We don't want to give it to anybody, but we certainly don't want to give it to that guy. It's a big part of our plan going in is how he can jump into those holes, and that's how he scores a lot of his goals getting in behind defence.

"We cannot make that mistake when it's 2-2 at the end of a period. That's a tough one."

Like Keefe, defenceman Luke Schenn put the blame for the Game 1 loss on the shoulders of the team as they look to bounce back in Game 2 on Thursday.

"Give them credit, they played well," Schenn said of the Panthers. "But a lot of the goals that were scored were self-inflicted. They're a great team, they played well tonight, give them credit.

"But in saying, that we think, I think, still have a lot more to give."

The Maple Leafs also dropped their opening game against Tampa Bay, losing 7-3 on home ice before rebounding with three straight wins.

The Panthers have posted four straight playoff wins dating back to their comeback from down 3-1 in their first-round series against the Boston Bruins.