Leafs coach upset with physical response after Marchand incident sidelines Liljegren

Sheldon Keefe wasn't impressed.

Ryan Reaves added the situation was discussed internally.

As the Maple Leafs prepared to face the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night, their attention in the morning was still firmly focused on what transpired less than 48 hours earlier.

Toronto announced defenceman Timothy Liljegren had been placed on long-term injured reserve with a high ankle sprain suffered in the first period of Thursday's 3-2 shootout loss in Boston when he was tripped by Bruins forward Brad Marchand and fell awkwardly into the board.

No penalty was called on the play.

Timothy Liljegren has been helped down the tunnel and has left the game after this play against Boston. <a href="https://t.co/KOJ6YZ3XMq">pic.twitter.com/KOJ6YZ3XMq</a>

Head coach Keefe, whose team had the day off Friday, was asked about the lack of a physical response from his group in both the moment and the immediate aftermath of the incident.

"I hated everything about, and I've addressed it," he said following Toronto's full morning skate at Scotiabank Arena. "It's not what we want to be about. At times we've responded very well in those situations.

"It's about consistency."

Toronto was pushed around during last spring's five-game loss to Florida in the second round of the playoffs, including rookie forward Matthew Knies getting body slammed to the ice by Panthers centre Sam Bennett, without much pushback.

Reaves, an enforcer signed over the summer by general manager Brad Treliving as part of a roster overhaul, said the reaction to the Liljegren-Marchand incident had been talked about internally and would be "changed going forward."

The bruising winger added players on the ice might not have realized what happened in the moment.

"But when [Marchand]