Keefe has seen his players face pushback after they swept Syracuse (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Lehigh Valley (Philadelphia Flyers) in back-to-back rounds.
Texas has provided that resistance. A heavy, grinding team, Texas has been able to slow Toronto's forecheck and speed through the neutral zone. That has made for a hard-won series lead for Keefe's team. Toronto had a 10-game playoff winning streak before Texas left Toronto with a series split after its Game 2 win.
"The biggest thing is just how competitive our guys were," Keefe said after a very physical Game 3. "They just dug in. That's a very hard game out there, very physical and very fast. It requires a lot of effort."
Keefe's team is finding different ways to win. A 6-5 victory in Game 1 required Toronto to rally after falling behind 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2. In Game 3, Toronto scored twice in the second period after trailing 1-0.
"It's one of the things that you worry about playing on the road, especially when the home team scores first," Keefe said. "Things can perhaps snowball and get away from you, but our guys just kept working, kept playing, and scored a big goal after that and really didn't look back."
A long playoff run is providing a variety of situations for the young Maple Leafs prospects to test themselves. Toronto has faced an elimination scenario in the first round against Utica and two series sweeps that led to a combined 19 days of breaks between series before a grinding series against Texas.
"These are two good teams that aren't going to get rattled," Keefe said. "I really liked that about our team [in Game 3]."
It was his job to revive his team after that Game 2 loss.
"It was different," he said of the team's mood. "It felt a lot worse than it probably should have because you haven't lost and haven't had that feeling. I thought it was important for us to pick our team up and realize that it was just a loss."
