Tonight, the New Jersey Devils look to snap out of the two game winless streak they’re currently on by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs on the road. The Devils were officially eliminated from a playoff spot with a loss and Islanders win on Tuesday.
The Devils are 37-37-5, good enough for seventh in the Metro. The Leafs hold a record of 46-23-9, which has them third in the Atlantic division.
Match Overview
These are two teams that had similar expectations going into the season which went very different ways. For the Devils horrible goaltending, some not-ideal coaching, and bad injury luck caused them to miss the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs dealt with a few minor injuries but carried on their season as expected to the tune of third in the Atlantic.
The Devils have lost five of their last six after winning four of five. Most recently they lost at home to these same Maple Leafs, 5-2. Meanwhile in their most recent stretch the Leafs have won three in a row and four of their last five games..
These teams have met twice this year, Tuesday as previously mentioned, and about two weeks ago in Toronto. Both games were dominated by the Leafs, but were split in result. The Devils were able to finish their chances in tune to a 6-3 win a couple weeks ago. Meanwhile, Tuesday night they blew a 2-1 lead in the second period to eventually lose 5-2.
Lines and Pairings
Devils
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Maple Leafs
Forwards
Bertuzzi-Matthews-Domi
McMann-Tavares-Marner
Robertson-Holmberg-Nylander
Knies-Kampf-Gregor
Defense
Rielly-Brodie
Benoit-McCabe
Giordano-Timmins
Goalies
Woll
Jones
Keys to the Game
Maple Leaf Domination
The Devils may have taken one of their two games this season against Toronto, but it isn’t due to proper play. A little over two weeks ago in Toronto the Devils were somehow able to take home two points despite being nearly doubled in shots. Earlier this week, the team didn’t have the same luck while nearly being outshot at a two-to-one ratio again.
Cumulatively, in the two games the Devils had a Corsi-for percentage (CF%) of 36.40 and expected goals percentage (xG%) of 33.10. On Tuesday, the Devils only had 0.9 expected goals for (xGF) at five-on-five. That’s miserable.
It’s clear that the Leafs own the Devils, at least this year. New Jersey needs to reload this summer and see where next season takes them.
Auston Matthews Tear
Auston Matthews has a chance in his team’s final four games to do something that hasn’t been done since 1992-93 by Teemu Selanne when he was a rookie. The task at hand? Score 70 goals in a season. Earlier this week Matthews scored his 66th, the most in a single season by any active NHL player.
If he can score at a goal per game pace over his team’s final few games he will be able to hit the allusive 70 goal mark. We’re looking at Ovechkin’s march towards Gretzky’s goal record right now, but in a decade’s time we could be watching the same hunt from Matthews.
In 553 games at age 26 or younger Ovechkin had 339 goals (0.61 goals per game). Matthews has played in 558 games and has 365 goals (0.65 goals per game).
Where To Watch
The Devils and Maple Leafs matchup is slated for a 7:00 pm ET puck drop. The game can be seen on MSGSN2.