Sheldon Keefe and the New Jersey Devils traveled to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs, in an attempt to get their first win of the season against them. Unfortunately for Keefe, his squad couldn’t get it done as the Leafs won a thriller, 4-3.
Game Recap
The Devils got off to a quick start as Johnathan Kovacevic corralled a failed clearing attempt and fed it to Jack Hughes, who dangled Joseph Woll and buried it. The score remained 1-0 after one.
The Leafs started to gain more momentum as the second period went on, and finally, William Nylander broke through with a nice wrister to knot it up. But moments later, Nico Hischier wired one home on the power play to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. The Leafs had a bit of a late-period surge, but Jacob Markstrom stood tall to keep the score there.
Seven minutes into the third, the Leafs got the benefit of a good break as Auston Matthews drew a trip that, upon replay, showed it likely wasn’t. Keefe was quite unhappy on the bench, and then Matthews scored on the ensuing penalty to tie it. But the Devils immediately answered back with a power play goal of their own as Hischier scored his second of the night.
With a little less than five minutes left, Matthews then played a game with the Devils called “anything your captain could do, I could do better” as he rushed in and ripped a perfect shot over Markstrom’s shoulder for his second, tying the game at three.
That’s where the score stood as it headed to 3-on-3 overtime. Luke Hughes hit the post, and about a minute later, William Nylander scored on a breakaway to win it.
WILLIAM NYLANDER CALLS GAME! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/1QCq7GJgWS
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 17, 2025
The Devils will return home on Saturday afternoon to face the Philadelphia Flyers; the Leafs will play later that night, as they head to Montreal to play the Canadiens.
