Coach Keefe pulls out ridiculous excuses for his team after brutal loss to the Coyotes

The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered a couple big losses at Scotiabank Arena yesterday evening.

The Leafs dropped a 4-2 decision to the lowly Arizona Coyotes in an absolutely brutal fashion, but the bigger story is that they lost veteran defenseman Jake Muzzin to an upper body injury. Muzzin took a hard hit from Coyotes forward Clayton Keller and appeared to kind of jack his neck while falling awkwardly. The Leafs announced that Muzzin would not return to the game.

Check it out:

Here's the hit in question:

No update yet on Muzzin's status moving forward but... let's be real... this guy is made of glass. I wouldn't be surprised if he's on the shelf long-term yet again. I absolutely love Muzzin's game when he's healthy, but if he's proven anything over the past few seasons it's that he simply can't stay healthy. His style of play leads to injury and at 33 years old the injuries are piling up to the point where he's no longer the player he once was. Still, I'm hopeful that he can get back in the lineup and be a productive player this season.

As for the rest of the group... yeesh...

The Leafs laid and absolute egg in front of their hometown fans and earned themselves some boos as they exited the ice both at intermission and following the game.

If you watched the game, you know that those boo's were earned. The Leafs were mostly listless and just content to have the Coyotes dictate the entire game. The Leafs' top players were a non-factor and, frankly as a fan, it was a frustrating game to watch. This should have been an easy win at home for them and their third string goalie, instead they fail to even show up and end up getting trounced by the league's doormat. At least, that's the way I saw it... Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe must have been watching a different game though because his take on the situation is that the Leafs' top scorers simply didn't match up to the Coyotes' top scorers.

Here's Keefe's post-game comments:

“Our best people have not found their rhythm…The difference between us and Arizona is that we have elite players. Our elite players didn't play like elite players today and couldn’t make a difference.”

- Sheldon Keefe

Excuse me? This is the NHL... you need more of a strategy than icing a few elite players and hoping they'll take care of things for you. The Coyotes may not be Stanley Cup contenders but they're still an NHL team and anyone can win any night in the NHL. To me, this statement proves that the Leafs simply looked over the Coyotes' roster and expected to simply show up and win. That feeling comes directly from the head coach in his own words. The arrogance and entitlement with this group just continues to frustrate me. If you want to win at the NHL level you have to compete at the NHL level. Period. Auston Matthews is going to pot you some freebies, no doubt, but you can't rely on those freebies to win you games. Put in the work and reap the results, that's the path to success in professional sports and it's clear to me and just about everyone else who follows this game why the Leafs haven't had any success in decades.