The Devils get their due
Nylander scores his 40th, Matthews hits 59 but it isn’t enough to beat New Jersey
William Nylander hit a milestone and Auston Matthews inched closer to another, but an injury-riddled Maple Leafs lineup fell short on Tuesday night.
Nylander scored his 40th goal of the season, tying his career best, and Matthews got to 59 (one short of his personal high) in a 6-3 loss to the wild-card hopeful New Jersey Devils at Scotiabank Arena.
Matthews fell just short of 60 goals in 70 games, despite nine shots among the 45 the Leafs fired on Jake Allen. He remains the league leader en route to a third Rocket Richard Trophy, but 60 in 70 would have been sweet. Only 10 NHLers have scored 60 in 70 (or fewer), the last being Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux in 1995-96, who only needed 62 games.
Tyler Bertuzzi also scored for the Leafs, who might argue they deserved a better fate after controlling play for most of the night and creating all kinds of scoring opportunities. But the Devils have just as much skill and were more opportunistic, while Joseph Woll had a bit of an off-night in the Leafs net.
Both Toronto-raised Hughes brothers, Jack and Luke, scored for the Devils.
Though American, they spent their formative years playing in the GTHL while their father, Jim, was director of player personnel for the Leafs. Jack scored the Devils’ last two goals, the second into an empty net.
The Leafs, already without Mitch Marner, Calle Järnkrok and Ilya Samsonov, added defencemen Morgan Rielly and Joel Edmundson to the list with undisclosed injuries. Rielly was a game-time decision, but the injury to Edmundson sounded more serious.
“I wouldn’t expect him this week,” said coach Sheldon Keefe.
Playoff watch
With ex-Leaf Travis Green behind the bench as interim head coach, having replaced Lindy Ruff, the Devils are still hoping to earn a playoff spot. They have won four of their last five games and sit five points behind the Washington Capitals for the second wild card.
“Being around this group, they’re hungry to win, they’re hungry to learn and they’re still very young,” said Green. “The Devils have a bright future.”
And it’s not outside the realm of possibility that the Tampa Bay Lightning could catch the Leafs. The Lightning are just four points back and the teams will face each other twice down the stretch.
“Every day, every shift, every practice we get, we’ve got to have a level of urgency to everything that we’re doing,” said Keefe. “We’re approaching it with the mindset that we’re going to be able to find a way to clinch a spot. You’ve got to maximize each day in order to do that. It’s obviously very important to secure those points and secure our spot.”
Urgent call
The Leafs played with the kind of urgency Keefe wanted in the opening period, but the Devils emerged with an unlikely 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Bertuzzi opened the scoring just 1:04 into the game on a breakaway, and the Leafs peppered Jake Allen with shots: 25 in all in the opening frame, including five from Matthews and four by Nicholas Robertson.
The Devils, though, scored on their first shot (at 4:25), a wrister by Luke Hughes that Woll really should have had. The Devils scored again at 17:56 with Nico Hischier finishing off a two-on-one, their 10th and final shot of the period.
The second period started and finished with the Leafs on a power play, but failing to connect on either.
In between, there was lots of action. Nylander and Matthews scored 1:37 apart to give the Leafs a brief 3-2 lead. But Timo Meier scored less than a minute after Matthews to tie it, and Max Williams gave New Jersey a 4-3 lead before the period ended.
Woll to Woll
Woll played consecutive games for the first time since five in a row from Nov. 25 to Dec. 7, when he left with a high-ankle sprain. He returned Feb. 29 and has gone 2-3-0. With Samsonov having hit “a bump in the road” according to Keefe after leaving Saturday’s game with an undisclosed injury, the Leafs went back to Woll, who had turned aside 41 of 43 shots in a 2-1 loss in Carolina on Sunday.
“He’s building momentum and getting back into a groove,” Keefe said of Woll. “That’s why it’s important to get him back in. He’s had some tough starts. He’s been on the tail end of back-to-backs. He’s played some tough opponents. So getting him in (against New Jersey) I thought was important.”
Keefe didn’t expand on Samsonov’s injury other than to say he’s expected to practise in full on Wednesday. He skated only a little before the team’s morning skate.