I probably don’t have to use 300 words to make the point that you can get from the title, but I’ll do it anyway.
Despite the New Jersey Devils playing all over, and I mean all over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the road team found a way to win the game despite being outshot 38-15. The Maple Leafs had only six shots going into the third period and scored maybe the unlikeliest goal imaginable to tie the game thanks to a shorthanded marker from Pontus Holmberg.
Umm…
Goalberg. pic.twitter.com/iQNE7rPvtk
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 11, 2024
The reason the Leafs came away with two points in the form of a short answer is Anthony Stolarz. The New Jersey native missed what would have been his first game against his hometown team with the Leafs after Joseph Woll got hurt during preseason and was easily the top student in tonight’s class. He stopped 37 of 38 shots and survived a couple of fire drills in front of the net, including the one immediately before Holmberg tied the game.
Sheldon Keefe has seen success as head coach of the Devils in his first season there, with the Devils currently sitting atop the Metropolitan Division, but the way the game played out tonight brought out some eerie memories from that era of Leafs hockey. I’ll let JD Bunkis expand further.
The PERFECT Keefe game.
Get goalied, bad bounce against, nothing from the PP, no response to physical play and win the deserve to win-o-meter
— JD Bunkis (@JDBunkis) December 11, 2024
The no response to physical play is a nod to two instances during the game where the Maple Leafs bodied a Devils player and their teammates didn’t seem to be bothered. The first was a monster his from Max Pacioretty on Devils star Jack Hughes, and the second was an unfortunate albeit questionable hit into the boards by Matthew Knies on Jonas Siegenthaler.
Pacioretty steamrolls Jack Hughes pic.twitter.com/lsEH0vRHSA
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) December 11, 2024
Knies is called for this hit on Kovacevic
boarding pic.twitter.com/jhbuSSzk9r
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) December 11, 2024
The Devils probably didn’t do themselves any favours by continuing to dish Auston Matthews breakaway opportunities. The first three all came shorthanded, with two missing the net and one stopped by Devils netminder Jacob Markstrom, and even though Matthews was batting .000 in all alone heading into overtime, that doesn’t mean you let him have another kick at the can. The Devils did, and the result was the extra point going Toronto’s way.
THE LEAFS WIN IT IN OT! WHAT A SEQUENCE 😳#NHL pic.twitter.com/M2VzbhmNHr
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 11, 2024
The Maple Leafs took two points in a game they didn’t deserve to survive regulation in, let alone win in overtime, but nobody checks how you got the points, and coming away with both is all that matters. They’ll be back in action on Thursday night when they host the Anaheim Ducks.
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