Playoff-bound teams take advantage when they’re handed one. The New Jersey Devils (20-17-2) did not do that on Tuesday night. The Toronto Maple Leafs (18-15-6) had $40 million out of the lineup to injury against the Devils. Still, New Jersey’s scoring woes continued, and they were shut out 4-0 by Toronto and Joseph Woll.
Visiting Scotiabank Arena, the Maple Leafs were without their best players in Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Chris Tanev, whereas the Devils have had some of their best players back in the lineup for several games now.
It was clear that Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe wanted to get New Jersey on the board first. Jack Hughes was on the ice early and often, although, Joseph Woll battled back against an early push.
The Devils had their best chance when Dawson Mercer received a pass in the right circle for a one-time chance. Yet, he rang the iron, and the game remained scoreless.
When the ice tilted in Toronto’s direction, Jacob Markstrom had to stand strong, and did for the most part. Until the Maple Leafs went to their second power play, and scored on the stick of Bobby McMann to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.
New Jersey started the second period with 1:30 on the power. Although the puck movement was solid, as was the execution, no one was thinking shoot first. Thus, the Devils didn’t collect as many scoring chances as they probably should have.
Much like how most of their games have been, the score remained close by a score of 1-0 for the majority of the period. However, as the third Toronto power play expired, McMann redirected Nicholas Robertson’s pass in the slot, which landed on Nicolas Roy’s stick, and the Maple Leafs scored, extending their lead to 2-0.
The captain tried to ignite a spark for the Devils in the third, dropping the mitts with Matthew Knies in a neutral zone faceoff. Yet, after the scuffle, the Maple Leafs quickly tripled their lead to 3-0 when Calle Jarnkrok scored his fifth goal of the season.
The Devils pulled Markstrom with the clock winding down, and Knies hit the open net to make it a 4-0 game.
At the final buzzer, the Devils sealed their sixth loss in their last 10 games, dropping their fourth in a row to the Maple Leafs 4-0.
Markstrom made 26 saves on 29 shots, and suffered his ninth loss of the season.
