Short-handed Leafs pull out shootout win against Devils
Van Riemsdyk beats Schneider to end game
TORONTO 2 NEW JERSEY 1
TORONTO — David Clarkson would not go into specifics, but in the days leading up to his first meeting against his former team he received more calls than he can remember from New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur.
There were some, ahem, interesting conversations.
“He’s been phoning me, trash talking me all week,” said Clarkson, who had Brodeur’s wife and youngest son stay at his home for Friday night’s game. “But we’re pretty close. Marty was someone that took care of me when I was young and playing pranks throughout my whole career. It was a lot of fun.”
Brodeur did not play against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night. But after Friday’s 2-1 shootout win against the Devils, which featured a 34save performance from Jonathan Bernier, a jaw-dropping goal from Phil Kessel and a shootout goal from James van Riemsdyk, Clarkson might have more material the next time his former teammate decides to call.
“It’s going to be obviously special,” Clarkson had said of facing New Jersey, where he spent the past six seasons. “I was there for a long time, my daughter was born there. Mr. Lamoriello and (head coach) Pete DeBoer are probably two of the biggest reasons I’m in the National Hockey League.”
All week long, Randy Carlyle preached the fundamentals: more physicality, fewer turnovers and a return to the blue- collar game that made the Leafs so successful last season.
In a way, he got what he asked for. Toronto and New Jersey, which had each gone the previous games without a goal, battled to an uneventful scoreless tie through two periods.
It was safe — if not boring — hockey.
It was not until midway through the third that Toronto finally scored, on the power play, with Kessel tak- ing a pass in the neutral zone and then turning on the jets to blow past three New Jersey players before beating Cory Schneider for his 10th of the season.
The goal ended a dramatic stalemate where neither team seemed interested in making the first move.
But about seven minutes later, Kessel was serving a slashing penalty and Michael Ryder tied the game on a weak shot that somehow skipped over Bernier’s glove.