Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews could not believe his team pulled off a miracle despite being severely outplayed against the New Jersey Devils.
On a night when the Leafs could not muster up any scoring chances — unless on the penalty kill — and were hemmed in their end for what felt like ages, Anthony Stolarz’s heroics were the sole reason they had a chance. Anyone watching this game knew Toronto did not deserve to come away with the two points, but that is exactly what they did.
When speaking with reporters after the game, the captain was quick to sing the praises of his goalie who earned the MVP belt uncontested.
“I think Stolie was pretty good in net tonight. I mean, he was our best player,” Matthews said. “The first two periods wasn’t very good, but we stuck with it. Stolie made some big saves, only a 1-0 game going into the third. I think the mindset was to get our feet moving a little bit more and try to generate more offence towards the net, some more shots towards the net. We did and we were able to get that one and force overtime and try to close it out.”
Matthews credited his teammates for sticking to it in the face of what seemed like insurmountable odds to give themselves a fighting chance at coming away with the victory while slowly working their way back into it. That paid off on the tying goal Matthews was referencing where Connor Dewar outworked his opponent for the puck in all three zones before setting up Pontus Holmberg for a short-handed tally.
While Matthews couldn’t quite pinpoint why exactly the Leafs started so slow, he recognized the Devils were upping the tempo and getting a flurry of chances.
“We were fortunate that it was 0-0, but we had one shot on net,” Matthews said about the feeling in the room after the first period. “We needed a wake-up call, and even in the second period wasn’t wasn’t a whole lot better. Just try to regroup, get our legs under us, go out in the third and see what happens. Get some more shots to the net and squeaked this one out.”
In fairness to the captain, he was getting plenty of looks throughout the game but a good chunk of them went high and wide while the ones that hit the target were denied by Jacob Markstrom.
that’s why he’s the captain pic.twitter.com/IrawQgaBGH
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) December 11, 2024
“It felt really good. Couldn’t quite seem to find my spot a couple of times, just tried to stick with it. The game was very ugly on our side for most of the game,” he said. “To squeak out this one, it’s good to be back in the win column. We just want to continue that momentum and be better for the next game.”
He certainly sounds like a guy who recognized that there weren’t a lot of winning habits in this game and the way they were playing is not a recipe for success long-term. Matthews knows the Leafs need to give a better showing overall moving forward while being happy with coming away victorious.
Matthews and the Leafs will look to build off their improbable win when they return home to face the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
