The New Jersey Devils traveled to Canada to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time this season. The two teams will meet one another three times in three weeks, twice in Toronto and once in New Jersey. The Maple Leafs currently sit in the third spot in the Atlantic Division and have a high chance of playing the Boston Bruins or Florida Panthers in the opening round of the playoffs. The Devils sit five points out of a wildcard spot, with more games played than the teams they are chasing.
The Maple Leafs went into the game with important players out as Mitch Marner, Morgan Reilly, and Ryan Reaves did not suit up for Toronto. New Jersey was without Santeri Hatakka, Kurtis MacDermid, Nolan Foote, Brian Halonen, and Jonas Siegenthaler.
Jake Allen faced Joseph Woll in the goaltending matchup in Toronto. The Devils were able to beat the Maple Leafs 6-3 in a high-scoring affair.
Devils Continue Mediocre Starts
In a majority of the beginning of games for New Jersey, it looks like the team does not want to be playing hockey. The trend continued in Toronto when the Devils gave up a goal 64 seconds into the game. Tyler Bertuzzi easily slipped between Simon Nemec and Brendan Smith to score on a breakaway. After a dominant 4-0 victory against the New York Islanders on Sunday (March 24), New Jersey entered the game in Toronto flat and sloppy. Unfortunately, their poor play in the opening period would follow a season-long trend. They would allow the first goal of the game for the 51st time in 73 games.
Luke Hughes answered Bertuzzi’s goal 4:25 into the first period. Despite the Devils answering the Maple Leafs’ goal, they continued their terrible play in the defensive zone. Toronto fired a season-high 26 shots on goal in the opening period of the game. Allen stood on his head in the first period and registered 1.96 goals saved above expected. By the end of the game, he stopped 42 shots.
Despite the abysmal play in the first period, New Jersey finished with a 2-1 lead. Jesper Bratt set a career-high 46 assists in a season with his beautiful pass to Nico Hischier on a 2-on-1. Hischier buried the chance to give his team a lead with 2:04 left in the first period. Bratt and Hischier ended the period with two points each to help their team steal the lead.
Too Little Too Late for the Devils
With New Jersey’s win over the Maple Leafs, their playoff odds increased to 13%. For a team that was considered a Cup contender at the beginning of the season, those odds are disappointing, to say the least. The Devils have won four of their last five games, with the lone loss coming from the Ottawa Senators. Unfortunately, the improved play is simply happening too late in the season.
Related: 3 Reasons the Devils Should Abandon Playoff Pursuit
The acquisition of Allen has provided consistent and great goaltending to help the team earn more wins. However, the addition of two new goaltenders happened too late in the season. Furthermore, a coaching change happened too late as well and became a huge cloud over the organization. If significant changes were made one or two months earlier, New Jersey’s spot in the standings could be much better than where they are now.
Nevertheless, New Jersey has now earned two straight impressive wins against the Islanders and Maple Leafs. Losing against the Senators followed a theme of the Devils missing out on valuable points against bottom-of-the-league teams. With losses against the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Arizona Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, and Columbus Blue Jackets, the team is rightfully too far from the playoffs.
New Jersey has nine games remaining in the regular season. If the team were to win out, they would end the season with 94 points. Therefore, they will need significant help from other Eastern Conference teams losing. Though they are far off from being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, it would be shocking if they found themselves in a playoff spot. Their next matchup is against the Buffalo Sabres, a team below them in the standings. Hopefully, New Jersey can break the pattern of losing to worse teams on Friday.
Quick Takeaways
- Bratt, Hischier, and Curtis Lazar each recorded three points in the game against Toronto.
- Luke Hughes became the second 20-year-old defender to record 40 points in a season, joining Scott Niedermayer.
- Bratt reached 72 points this season, only two points shy of his career-high, with nine games left to play.
- Jack Hughes reached the 70-point mark, averaging 1.23 points per game this season.
- Timo Meier scored his 13th goal of March, bringing his season total to 24 goals. He also recorded an assist to finish the game with two points.