Head coach Sheldon Keefe hit the nail on the head when asked about his team’s effort on Monday night and how frustrating the result was:
I thought we played a really good game. I think if we play that type of game 100 times, we probably win 99 of them or something in that neighbourhood. You don’t get the points and that hurts.
Maybe at 3-3 Matthews, instead of hitting the post, goes post and in and you win the game — we’d be sitting here talking about how good of a defensive game it was all the way through and how we gave up zero shots at 5-on-5 from inside our own zone in the second period
Keefe is responding to the (probably unjustified) level of panic in the media and fan base after the Florida loss, and he is right to point out the quality of the team’s overall performance, but his group’s resiliency is about to be tested once again here.