Keefe: Leafs need Andersen ‘to be great’ in rematch with Pens Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe is sticking with No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen for Thursday's rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins and is calling upon the big Dane to raise his level after Tuesday’s defeat, Mark Masters writes.

TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes on the Maple Leafs, who practised on Wednesday at the Ford Performance Centre ahead of Thursday’s rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Sheldon Keefe is sticking with Frederik Andersen for Thursday's rematch against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"It's fairly obvious," he said of the decision. "He's our guy, right. He's coming back off an injury here, we need to get him back going. When this team has been at its best is when Fred's been at his best.”

Andersen is 0-3-0 with an .835 save percentage since returning from a neck injury while new backup Jack Campbell is 3-0-1 with a .919 save percentage since being acquired by the Maple Leafs earlier this month.

"Soupy's coming in here and we've got confidence in him, but this is a whole different situation, it's a whole different level of competition and Fred's our guy and we need him to be great," Keefe said.

Andersen seemed to be trending in the wrong direction even before the nine-day injury absence. Since December, Andersen is just 11-7-3 with an .892 save percentage.

"I got more to give and I got more to do so that's my focus," Andersen said, "try to get back to my level and being as good as I can be and help the team out, get some confidence and I think we'll feed off each other once we're back and playing like the way we can."

Keefe doesn't blame Andersen for Tuesday’s 5-2 loss in Pittsburgh, noting the Penguins basically "passed the puck into the net" on their three power-play goals. But the coach did call upon Andersen to raise his level after the defeat.

"Pretty much hit it right on," Andersen said of the coach's analysis.

Andersen is usually tightlipped about his own issues, but opened up a bit on Wednesday acknowledging that he's struggling to stay focused as the team deals with its own problems in front of him.

"Just mentally, when I'm at my best I didn't worry about what's going on, about things I can't control and I think that's something I've been working on lately," Andersen explained, "and just trying to make sure I put in 100 per cent effort and focus on what I do and what my job is to do and that's, over the last little bit, has been what's missing."

After making his all-star game debut, Andersen appeared to generate some momentum with quality starts in Nashville and Dallas before getting hurt.

"I did good out of the break, but obviously hit a little speed bump," he said, "last couple games there's been some improvements, but obviously I haven't been perfect."

Keefe says defending better to protect Andersen is a priority, but until the Dane becomes more like the goalie he was in November (.938 save percentage), the Leafs will likely be hard pressed to make the playoffs.

"Fred and (goalie coach) Steve Briere and those guys are working hard every day to get him playing at the level he's capable of," Keefe said, "which is a guy that has the ability to make the easy saves, but also the one that makes the difficult saves and takes those challenges head on when we crack defensively."

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Dealing with a condensed schedule, plenty of travel and a flu bug, the Leafs had not practised since Feb. 10 so Keefe was eager to make the most of Wednesday's session.

"A good chance for us to reset the group," is how the coach put it.

The on-ice workout lasted 45 minutes, which is about 15 to 20 minutes longer than usual. It was focused on stoking the competitive fire of the scuffling team.

"A high-intensity practice," observed winger Mitch Marner, "I think it's what we needed."

"Lots of battle drills," added Auston Matthews, "and hopefully gets our mindset right."

Keefe has lambasted the team's effort after the last two losses and on Tuesday night identified a lack of urgency and work ethic as common denominators during a 4-5-1 stretch in which the Leafs have just one regulation win.

So, how can the coach create more urgency?

"You can just remind them when it’s not there, you can talk to them about what’s happening around them and what other teams are doing and what we've failed to get to ourselves," Keefe said. "You can have a practice like we did today and then it's just trusting ... the players."

Keefe is generally pleased with how his top guys are playing, but Matthews said the turnaround has to be sparked by the leaders. And while Matthews has continued to produce, the 43-goal man was off his game in the first period in Pittsburgh, allowing Sidney Crosby and the Penguins to seize control.

"As other teams have elevated, we haven't," Matthews said, "and I think that's the message in this room, we need to elevate as a team."

There is an underlying fragility with this Leafs group right now. They lack the championship pedigree of a team like the Penguins.

"We get down in these games early and then I think we just give up and leave our goalie out to dry," said Marner. "We all know we have the skill, but we don't have the work ethic every single night and every single guy buying in."

Where does the urgency come from?

"It comes from every guy, that's pretty much as simple as it gets," Matthews said. "We need to answer the bell."

The lines looked the same at practice, but Keefe hinted strongly that a major shake up is in store on Thursday.

"I didn't put two seconds of thought into what the lines or D pairs looked like today, because it wasn't going to affect anything we were doing on the ice," Keefe said. "It's probably going to look much different tomorrow for everybody."

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One reason there will be a lineup change is the Leafs acquired a new player on Wednesday, getting Denis Malgin from Florida in exchange for Mason Marchment. Malgin was in transit from California and missed practice, but is expected to play against the Penguins.

"It gives us another NHL player, a guy who has a lot of skill and can do a lot of things we like to do," said Keefe, who admits he doesn't know much about the 23-year-old beyond seeing some video clips and watching him play against Toronto this season.

But Leafs assistant coach Paul McFarland worked with the five-foot-nine, 177-pound forward the last two seasons in Florida where he was an assistant to Bob Boughner on the Panthers bench.

"When he talks about him it's not just a small, skilled guy, but he's a competitor as well, wants to do well," Keefe said of the scouting report, "and when he's played with good players he's succeeded. It hasn't gone as well for him this year, but we needed a little extra depth (in terms) of NHL players with skill and we think we've got one here now."

Matthews also has some insight on Malgin having played with him on the Zurich Lions in the Swiss league during the 2015-16 season.

"He's a small guy, but he's really skilled, really shifty and elusive, good skater and sees the ice well," said Matthews, who usually catches up with Malgin at the arena following Leafs-Panthers games. "Nice to have a familiar face around the locker room, looking forward to seeing him, he's somebody that likes to work on his game quite a bit so it'll be good to have a guy like him here and I'm sure he'll fit in just fine."

Malgin has four goals and eight assists in 36 games this season, but is expected to bolster a bottom-six in Toronto that hasn't been contributing much.

"It's more the supporting cast here that has to do their part," Keefe said in addressing Toronto's issues.

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William Nylander is having an impressive season, but the smooth-skating Swede has gone a bit quiet of late with just two shots and one assist in the last two games. Keefe pulled Nylander aside for a chat at the end of practice.

The message?

"Just reminding him that he's an important player for us and he had been playing at a very high level, producing at a very high level and the offence isn't always going to be there, but we just need him to remain engaged in every shift and on every single puck and I think he's got more to offer in that regard. But he'll get it back, because he's shown over a larger sample, there's been a larger sample there of him being very good and consistent for us rather than what we've seen recently."

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Wednesday was the first time since Keefe took over that the Leafs allowed multiple power-play goals in a game. In fact, Pittsburgh struck on all three of their man-advantage opportunities.

"Our kill, we need to do a better job of changing when we're fresh," Marner said. "We're staying out too long. We have plays on the wall that we can kill with fresh guys and people stay too long and the puck doesn't die and, especially these guys, they don't miss when they get their opportunities."

Keefe believes the issue on the penalty kill was more of a one off, noting that the Leafs are killing at a 79.6 per cent rate (15th overall) on his watch.

"We have seen a lot of progress in our penalty kill, it just didn't happen yesterday," Keefe said. "It hasn't been an issue."

Under Mike Babcock, the Leafs started the season killing at a rate of just 76.6 per cent (25th overall).

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Lines at Wednesday’s practice:

Hyman - Matthews - Marner

Nylander - Tavares - Kerfoot

Engvall - Gauthier - Kapanen

Clifford - Spezza - Timashov

Muzzin - Holl

Dermott - Sandin

Marincin - Barrie

Korshkov - Liljegren

Andersen

Campbell