James Nichols
When the New Jersey Devils hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs, the visiting team healthy scratched three players in anticipation of a trade ahead of the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline.
With under 45 hours left to deal, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Bobby McMann, and Scott Laughton were all healthy scratches.
For New Jersey, Brett Pesce sat out, but for different reasons. He’s dealing with a lower body injury.
The Maple Leafs had the Devils on their heels out of the gate, and made them pay early.
At the 5:26 mark of the first period Matias Maccelli scored his 11th goal of the season after Dakota Joshua won a board battle and fed the Toronto forward in the slot to beat Jacob Markstrom—making his second consecutive start in as many nights—to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
However, Timo Meier realized it was March, and quickly evened the score, finishing a feed from Nico Hischier below the goal line to knot the game at one.
The Maple Leafs regained the lead in the second period on a redirection that Markstrom didn’t see.
Johnathan Kovacevic took a minor penalty for closing his hand on the puck, sending the Maple Leafs to the man advantage.
Easton Cowen handled the puck from the Devils’ blueline and threw the rubber on net with William Nylander cutting through the slot.
The puck redirected off Nylander and by Markstrom to give Toronto back their one-goal lead on the power play.
Yet, Arseny Gritsyuk ensured it was a short-lived deficit, sniping a goal by Anthony Stolarz after Jesper Bratt fed the Russian forward from the right circle.
Despite the Devils controlling the pace of play in the third period, the Maple Leafs regained the lead with 6:10 remaining in the game.
John Tavares led an odd-man rush down the ice with Matthew Knies. Tavares opted to shoot, and although Markstrom made the initial save, Kknies batted the puck out of the air and into New Jersey’s goal on the rebound to give Toronto a 3-2 lead.
However, Connor Brown restored the tie on a slick feed from Gritsyuk while on the rush to tie the game at three.
Brown’s goal snapped a 10-game goalless drought dating back to before the Olympic break.
Regulation solved nothing, sending the Devils and Maple Leafs to overtime.
The Devils nearly scored in the final seconds over the extra frame when Jack Hughes hit the post. However, the puck didn’t fall and the two sides went to the shootout.
Bratt and Paul Cotter score in the shootout, while Markstrom stopped Auston Matthews and William Nylander in the shootout.
Through 65 minutes of regulation and overtime, Markstrom made 23 saves on 26 shots, earning his 18th win of the season.
