Powerplay Woes Doom New Jersey Devils in 3-2 Loss to Toronto

Overview

Mitch Marner (right) and Auston Matthews (left) celebrate Marner’s second period goal in a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs (40-18-5) completed the season sweep of the New Jersey Devils (23-36-5) with a 3-2 win last night. The Devils were looking to win both legs of a back-to-back for the first time this season. NJ defeated the New York Rangers 7-4 on Tuesday. However, New Jersey came up short north of the border. Special teams cost the Devils in this one with Toronto netting two shorthanded goals, including the game winner.

First Period

It was a fast-paced start to the contest with Toronto tilting the ice early. The Maple Leafs fired seven of the game’s first eight shots at Nico Daws, but the Devils’ netminder was up to the challenge.

Nathan Bastian had the best Devils chance of the period midway through the first frame, but Petr Mrazek made a nice save. From there, the game slowed down a bit before the Maple Leafs took control once again in the waning minutes.

Nico Daws makes a save on a Michael Bunting chance. Daws made 28 saves in a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)

Nico Daws fought off a Mitch Marner chance before making two more solid saves on Justin Holl in the slot and Auston Matthews to keep the game scoreless at the intermission. Shots were 11-3 Toronto after the first, and neither team had taken a penalty.

Second Period

The game finally had some offensive fireworks in the second period. New Jersey went to the penalty kill less than two minutes in after Kevin Bahl slashed Ilya Mikheyev. The Devils killed off the penalty against the league’s best powerplay unit (28.8%), not allowing Toronto a shot on goal.

Moments later, NJ went to the powerplay and took advantage. A Damon Severson back-door feed intended for Jack Hughes banked off the skate of defensemen Ilya Lyubushkin and slid through Mrazek’s five-hole, giving the Devils a 1-0 lead 5:03 into the period.

New Jersey immediately went back to the penalty kill after PK Subban put the puck over the glass in his own zone, but once again held the Toronto powerplay without a shot on net. Despite the two penalties, shots were 9-3 NJ midway through the period.

The Devils had another powerplay opportunity with eight minutes to go in the second, but were less successful this time. Ilya Mikheyev made no mistake on a shorthanded breakaway, rounding Daws and finishing on the backhand

With the game knotted at 1, the Devils couldn’t capitalize with the remaining minute of powerplay time. However, just as the penalty expired, Dougie Hamilton found Jack Hughes on the back door. Hughes was denied by Mrazek, but Nico Hischier cleaned up the rebound to restore the one-goal lead for New Jersey. It was Hischier’s 18th of the season with six minutes left in the second.

However, this lead was also short-lived. Just under a minute later, Mitch Marner ripped a one-timer past Daws from the high slot off a feed from Matthews. That was Marner’s eighth point against the Devils this season. He scored a goal in all three meetings as well.

Things quieted down in the final five minutes of the period and the teams went to the locker room tied at two. Toronto led in shots 22-14.

Third Period

The start of the third period started similarly to the first. After Tomas Tatar appeared to be tripped by Mark Giordano, the call was overturned by the officials. Toronto tilted the ice from that point. Shots were 5-1 Toronto six minutes into the frame, but again, Nico Daws stood tall.

Nico Hischier (front) and Morgan Rielly (back) battle for a puck along the boards in a 3-2 Maple Leafs win over the Devils. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)

The game began to ratchet up in physicality from there. Hits finished 33-28 in favor of New Jersey.

The Devils went back to the powerplay, this time for four minutes, after Andreas Johnsson was cut by a high stick from Mikheyev with seven minutes remaining.

Marner had a shorthanded chance that was fought off by Daws, and the Devils had trouble entering the zone for the first half of the powerplay. With just over a minute to go on the man-advantage, Pierre Engvall led a shorthanded two-on-one with William Nylander. Dougie Hamilton went down to take away the pass, Engvall stopped up and fired past Daws to give Toronto a 3-2 lead with 4:42 to play.

The goal was a league-leading 10th shorthanded goal scored this season for Toronto and the league-worst 11th shorthanded goal allowed for New Jersey. It was the second game-winning shorthanded goal Toronto scored against the Devils this season.

The remaining powerplay time was negated by a Dougie Hamilton tripping call to break up another shorthanded rush. The Devils eventually got back to even strength and got Nico Daws to the bench for the extra attacker with just over a minute to go.

However, New Jersey could not create any great opportunities in the final minute and came up short, 3-2.

Game Notes

  • Nico Daws played relatively well for the Devils in his second start in as many days. At five-on-five, he saved .94 goals above expected, saving all eight high-danger chances he faced according to Natural Stat Trick. However, at all situations, Daws allowed .51 goals above expected because of the shorthanded pressure applied by Toronto.
  • Jack Hughes had another strong game for New Jersey. Per Natural Stat Trick, he controlled the play at five-on-five, leading the Devils with a 68% Corsi-For percentage, meaning New Jersey had 68% of the shots on net with Hughes on the ice. He also led the Devils with a 28.34% relative Corsi-For percentage, meaning the Devils’ share of shots on net was 28% higher with Hughes on the ice as opposed to off it at even strength.
Nico Hischier (left), Damon Severson (center), and Jack Hughes (right) celebrate Severson’s second period goal in a 3-2 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
  • Toronto was the far more dangerous team offensively. Across all situations, the Leafs had 17 high-danger scoring chances to the Devils’ six, according to Natural Stat Trick. For the game, Tronto had over 73% of the high-danger chances as well as 62% of all the scoring chances.

What’s Next

The Devils stay on the road, traveling to Washington on Saturday to take on the Capitals at 7 PM ET on MSG+.

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