Devils’ Keefe sees the return to Toronto as the final cut of the rope from the Maple Leafs

TORONTO – From having dinner at home with his wife and sons the night before a big Leafs game to battling Gardiner traffic on his way to the morning skate, to entering through his usual Scotiabank Arena door and walking past the Raptors locker room, everything felt similarly for Sheldon Keefe, as it has since the winter of 2019.

Except his walk to work through the bowels of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ rink ended at the visitors’ quarters, about 100 meters away from the large, comfortable locker room.

“Just stopped short this time,” smiled the New Jersey Devils head coach, joking that the portion of the event level wall closest to his team’s temporary locker room had been painted Devils red in his honor.

“So it’s all very familiar. But of course it’s going to be a little different on the other bench tonight.”

Keefe will take the enemy side of center for the first time in Toronto tonight.

And while he’s already twice faced the core he coached through five successful regular seasons and five postseason disappointments — a pair of Devils losses in Newark — Keefe agrees that a homecoming in black and red signals the final cut of the string.

Few Maple Leafs coaches have exited as gracefully as Keefe, who took the gig as a Calder Cup champion with the Marlies and as an NHL rookie.

Expectations for the team always seemed higher than for Keefe individually, and he guided the group to its best regular-season scoring percentage and its only playoff series victory in the last 21 years.

From every angle — the players, the organization, fans and pundits and Keefe himself — there was a point when he filmed his “Leafs Nation!” farewell by the lake, that the time had come.

Everyone was ready for a change.

“It’s probably not the most ideal situation for your first coaching job in the NHL. However, I feel like I benefited greatly from experiencing it, because I think it’s a special opportunity. Very unique in the league, both in the talent that is and the organization and how it runs and the expectations and the pressure and the fan base and such.

“I grew a lot through it. I think I got thicker skin as a result. I think I went through a lot there that helped me grow faster than normal, and I think I have come out the other side of it all.I feel like I was all the more prepared coming into this job.I feel like I’m ready for anything that comes up.Any experience helps to grow. With that experience, it probably accelerates the growth process.”

The Devils (26-15-5) arrive a better team under Keefe, who is catching successor Craig Berube’s pack on a season-worst three-game losing skid.