Since Sheldon Keefe took over the wheel in Toronto, the Maple Leafs are looking like a championship contender. His team posted the 6th win in a row and is now slowly going up on the Eastern Conference standings.
They would beat the New Jersey Devils on the road last night, 5-4, but the Maple Leafs had to dig deep in order to get it. The fans at Prudential Center saw overtime, which ended after one of their favorites scored an own goal. Although the statisticians added this one to William Nylander, the truth is that Damon Severson had the most influence in that situation.
Maple Leafs right-winger lost the control over the puck, but it was Severson who accidentally backhanded it in his net.
“It was a harmless play, but I put it completely, accidentally, into the goalie, and obviously, he was not expecting it on the play,” he said following the game.
The game in Newark was more than interesting, and it saw a couple of lead changes. Nico Hishier opened the show, with a snap shot at 4:33 inside the opening period.
Toronto would change the result with a blitz in the closing minutes of the same frame. Zach Hyman tied it with 3:04 before the end of the first on a power-play, and just 19 seconds afterward, Ilya Mikheyev gave the guests the lead.
The rookie from Russia later picked up a nasty cut on his right wrist and had to leave the game and visit the hospital.
“He’s going to stay in New Jersey tonight,” Maple Leafs coach said. “He’ll get evaluated, and we’ll have to figure out what needs to be done.”
The Devils would respond through Nikita Gusev, 102 seconds into the middle sequence, and after his goal, Kasperi Kapanen once again pushed the guests upfront, some three and a half minutes later.
The midpoint of the second was, in fact, the most interesting part of the entire contest, with goals appearing one after another. Kyle Palmier activated the tie once again, after picking up a turnover seven minutes inside the second, and Jeff Bratt’s wrist shoot ignited the crowd at 10:11, after beating Michael Hutchinson. At 8:15 of the final period, John Tavares tied the game on the power-play, forcing overtime. Eventually, that allowed Toronto to extend it’s winning streak.
“It wasn’t pretty overall, but we just kept staying with it,” Tavares said. “I think we know over the last couple of games that we’ve got to tighten up at times.
The Maple Leafs (21-14-4) are now heading back home for a second of back-to-back nights against the New York Islanders. After that, they have two road games against Minnesota Wild and the Winnipeg Jets.
New Jersey (12-19-6) also plays back-to-back nights. Their opponents will be the Ottawa Senators. On New Year’s day, the Devils face Boston Bruins.
