ST. PAUL -- On Tuesday night, Dave Hakstol stood just feet away from the spot where he called The Timeout -- a now-famed coaching decision that preceded UND's stunning rally from down 3-0 to beat Minnesota 6-3 in a 2012 playoff game.

Hakstol looked to his right on the visiting bench at Xcel Energy Center and watched his head coach, Sheldon Keefe, do the same.

Only this time, their team wasn't losing and didn't need a spark.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were leading by two goals and well on their way to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild in a New Year's Eve game.

After a tumultuous start to the season -- one in which Toronto head coach Mike Babcock got fired in mid-November -- the Maple Leafs are one of the NHL's hottest teams. They're 7-0-1 in their last eight games and only the Pittsburgh Penguins had a better month of December.

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The Maple Leafs, sitting in second place in the Atlantic Division, have won 13 of 18 games under Keefe, who opted to retain Hakstol as an assistant.

"He's been excellent," Keefe said of Hakstol. "His demeanor is consistent every day in terms of not getting too emotional. His experience speaks to that -- the fact that he's been a head coach in the league as well. He's done a good job in getting our penalty kill prepared every day and working with our defense, so our entire staff has done a great job and certainly Dave's experience as a head coach has been invaluable to me."

Keefe, who had been serving as the head coach of Toronto's American Hockey League affiliate to start the season, said he began building a relationship with Hakstol and Toronto's other new assistant, Paul McFarland, in the fall.

"We worked together in getting prepared just as we have been every year," Keefe said. "They've been really great. It's been a seamless transition for me in that sense. They've just kind of helped me get prepared every day."

Hakstol is adapting to life as an assistant coach after 15 straight years as a head coach -- 11 at UND and four with the Philadelphia Flyers. The last time Hakstol worked a full season as an assistant was 2003-04 at UND under Dean Blais.

Hakstol did work two Men's World Championships as an assistant for Team Canada in 2017 and 2019.

After being let go as the head coach of the Flyers last season, he opted to take an assistant coaching job with Toronto.

There are numerous changes under the assistant role.

Instead of being the face of the team and handling all media inquiries, Hakstol is in a more behind-the-scenes role in Toronto. In fact, the Maple Leafs only allow their assistant coaches to speak to the media in special circumstances.

But that didn't stop Hakstol from greeting familiar faces Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center, the place he led UND to Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five championships in 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Perhaps the most famous of those titles was the run to the 2012 Broadmoor Trophy with a team that had so many injuries that Hakstol couldn't fill out a full lineup.

In the semifinal game against rival Minnesota, UND trailed 3-0 late in the second period when Hakstol called a timeout to rest tired legs after an icing. Just 44 seconds later, Derek Forbort scored from the point to start a stunning rally. Michael Parks, Brock Nelson, Mario Lamoureux, Corban Knight and Lamoureux scored in the third as UND outshot Minnesota 21-2 in the frame and rallied for a victory.

The next day, UND beat Denver 4-0 to win the title.

Ironically, Keefe has become known for using his timeout more often than other coaches.

"Yeah, I have," Keefe said about frequently using his timeout. "I just think there are a lot of different things happening with this team here. I'm using them a little bit more."

On Tuesday, Keefe used the timeout after the Wild scored their lone goal to cut Toronto's lead to 3-1 in the second period.

"I just thought the game had turned quickly for us there and I didn't want it to get out of hand," Keefe said. "I just thought the emotion and energy in the building changed dramatically. I thought a timeout would help us settle that down. I'm not so sure it worked, necessarily, because they kept pushing for a bit there. But the intent, I think, makes a lot of sense in those circumstances."

Perhaps that timeout won't become as famed as Hakstol's in 2012, but it did its job Tuesday.