After three straight losses, the Toronto Maple Leafs finally posted a win by beating the New Jersey Devils last night at Scotiabank Arena. The home team fans had a fun time watching their favorites beating the guests from the East coast, after fireworks of goals, 7-4.
The central figure on the ice was Auston Matthews, who posted three goals and was unstoppable for the Devils’ defense. Although the Maple Leafs had a big lead when he began scoring goals, that isn’t diminishing his achievement.
“My linemates made some unbelievable plays to get me the puck tonight, so I just tried to put it in,” Matthews said. “Overall, we wanted to have a good bounce-back game.”
And they did that. The 8-4 loss against the Panthers is archived, and Sheldon Keefe’s crew can now turn to its next challenges refreshed and with boosted morale.
The hosts would stun their rivals, netting three times in the opening period. After 5 minutes and 18 seconds, John Tavares scored the first goal, and a little bit less than four minutes after that, Frederik Gauthier double the lead of the home team.
What knocked out the Devils was the goal added four seconds before the end of the opening frame. Rasmus Sandin sent a point shot towards Louis Domingue, but Zach Hyman deflected the puck and deceived the NJ’s goalie.
Domingue was eventually replaced with Cory Schneider in the second period after allowing two more goals.
William Nylander raised to 4-0 just 132 seconds inside the middle sequence. The guests scored their opening goal after 6:56 of the same; once Blake Coleman posted the first of his three goals in this matchup. The 28-year old center was the sole bright spot in the Devils’ game. Coleman was very disappointed after the game, saying that his team didn’t deserve a better result with the approach they had.
“There was no life on the bench, no energy. It’s no excuse,” he said. “We put ourselves in a hole we shouldn’t have been in, and had we played the way we did the last 10 minutes, it would have been a different game.”
After Coleman’s first score, Auston Matthews broke the bank on Mitch Marner’s assist for 5-1, and after that, he raised to 6-1 with 3:58 inside the last period.
Yet, the Devils’ center responded with his two hits. The first was following a breakaway with exactly eight minutes left, and the second with 4:25 to go. In those moments, the result was 6-3, yet neither side though of slowing down the tempo. For one brief moment, the Devils created a massive swing, and some two minutes before the end, PK Subban used a power-play situation to cut the gup to only two goals.
However, Matthews prevented any miraculous scenarios, with his hat-trick 120 seconds before the buzzer.
“Just continue to play well, do the right things, and try to win hockey games. It’s a challenge we all should look forward to,” he added.
The Maple Leafs now await the Calgary Flames this Thursday, while, on the other hand, the Devils are traveling to Washington to meet the Capitals.
