Tyler Bertuzzi benched in the third period by Sheldon Keefe.

Tyler Bertuzzi may have landed himself in Sheldon Keefe’s dog house.

On Saturday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs suffered a tough loss at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche and with the game on the line in the third period, Sheldon Keefe’s deployment of his players painted a rather unflattering picture for Bertuzzi.

In spite of the fact that the Maple Leafs could have used all the energy they could get in the third, Keefe opted to deploy Bertuzzi for just a single shift during the entire third period. It is unclear at this time why Keefe made the decision to do so, but I can only assume that Bertuzzi landed himself in the coach’s bad graces one way or another.

That works out to just 1 minute and 21 seconds of ice time in the final frame for Bertuzzi who gambled on himself when he joined the Maple Leafs on a 1 year contract this summer.

Bertuzzi has 6 goals and 12 assists for a total of 18 points over 40 games as a Maple Leaf this season, but he won’t be able to impress  any potential suitors with his play if his coach keeps him glued to the bench.