Keefe preparing Leafs for 'borderline violent' series against Lightning

SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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The Maple Leafs practised at Ford Performance Centre on Sunday. The Lightning skated at Coca-Cola Coliseum.

The Leafs and Lightning combined for 114 penalty minutes in their last meeting on April 21 in Tampa. Sheldon Keefe believes that's a taste of what to expect in the playoffs. 

"They are a team that is going to be very physical and competitive," the Leafs coach said. "When I look at their playoffs — especially in the first round last year — they definitely led the league in skirmishes after the whistle. I expect it to be a very physical, borderline violent series in a lot of ways. Our guys will be ready for that."

Jon Cooper chuckled when informed of Keefe's "borderline violent" comment. 

"The first round is always chaos," the Lightning coach said. "It's organized chaos. The guys are pumped up." 

Cooper points out that players are often as healthy as they're going to be during the run and usually amp up their intensity by an extra five to 10 per cent. 

"We've kind of been through all the wars," Cooper continued. "Just rewind the tape to when we played Florida. It was two cars going 100 miles an hour right at each other and it was who's going to flinch first."

Keefe is making moves to ensure his team won't flinch. Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Clifford skated on the fourth line at practice and project to be in the Game 1 lineup. Both received supplemental discipline for actions during that previous game in Tampa. Clifford was fined for high sticking Corey Perry while Simmonds, who dropped the gloves that night with Pat Maroon, was fined for charging Mikhail Sergachev. 

"We can only go off of how the games have been recently, how Tampa has played when they have had success in the