Sheldon Keefe makes an odd statement after Maple Leafs lose their fourth in a row

Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs have become very restless recently. After another loss Monday night, 4-1 at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, the Leafs now have a 2-4-1 record on the season and many are scratching their heads attempting to figure out what's wrong. One of the biggest issues is that the team's main core of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares simply aren't producing at the rate they should be. That said, head coach Sheldon Keefe was asked about the loss following the game, and he seemed to be encouraged by what he saw.

"My confidence gets a boost today, from myself, frankly," said Keefe. "Just because, I don't know if it shows up in from what you guys are watching, but from ice level that game's played at a much higher pace. We got a sense of what a Stanley Cup contending team looks and feels like."

His words are somewhat confusing. Many fans are pointing out that Toronto really didn't look good at all so, apparently, Keefe saw something that they really didn't see. It's possible he's talking about Carolina when mentioning a "contending team", but I'm not sure how he's getting a confidence boost from that.

"We stuck with our game, even though it was difficult," added Keefe. "That's the hardest game we've played this season by a wide margin; We made mistakes that resulted in us getting scored on, they didn't make those mistakes."

"I thought our guys competed at a much higher level here today. Unfortunately, it's still not high enough. You're playing against the Carolina Hurricanes, really, in the league in that regard."

As it stands right now, Marner has one assist in seven games played so far this season. Tavares has a goal and two assists. Matthews scored his first of the season Monday after missing a few games at the start with an injury. He now has one goal and no assists in four games. Unless that changes quickly, it's going to be tough for the Leafs to turn things around.

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