Devils Postgame
Devils Postgame: Keefe Disappointed, Defense Struggles in 4-2 Loss to Maple Leafs
The Devils’ defense struggles in their 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs during Sheldon Keefe’s first game against his former club.
NEWARK — The New Jersey Devils dropped the puck on the North American side of the pond after sweeping the Global Series in Prague, hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs in their home opener at the Prudential Center.
Sheldon Keefe faced his former club for the first time in what he described as a “strange” tilt, having never been in the situation where he’s behind the bench facing a previous coached team before.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go New Jersey’s way on Thursday, falling to the Maple leafs 4-2 in regulation.
Devils Rapid Recap
The first period started evenly, with neither team capable to control play through the first five minutes of the game. The Maple Leafs later took hold of the first period and broke open the scoring on the stick of Max Pacioretty, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead. With traffic blocking Jacob Markstrom‘s vision, Bobby McMann doubled the Maple Leafs lead just three minutes later. A broken play at just about the five-minute mark in the Devils’ slot was chipped in over Markstrom’s shoulder by Steven Lorentz to give the Maple Leafs an early 3-0 lead. Just before the buzzer rang for the end of the first period, the Devils were able to convert on the power play, a goal by Jesper Bratt to cut the score to 3-1.
The second period nearly went scoreless until John Tavares regained Toronto’s three-goal lead with about five minutes left in the middle frame. Timo Meier, however, brought the Devils back within two with six seconds remaining on the clock in the second period.
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube pulled back the reins on his team, clamping down the Devils in the third period. The Devils registered seven shots on goal in the final frame, but it was a scoreless third period as Toronto secured the victory.
Markstrom ended the night making 18 saves on 22 shots. Dennis Hildeby secured the victory in his NHL debut, stopping 22 out of 24 pucks.
Takeaways
New Coach, Same Issues?
Maybe they just needed to shake off the rust from their travels in Prague. It’s too early to say that the Devils have the same issue they had last season. However, going down 3-0 in the first period certainly isn’t encouraging.
Good thing the Devils didn’t start that slow in the first two games of the season, otherwise that might be a legitimate concern already. Still, the Maple Leafs are certainly more well regarded than the Buffalo Sabres. The Devils need to prove this season that they’re not a team that is going to fall behind and fall flat.
Fortunately, the Devils found the scoresheet before the first intermission. But being out-shot 7-1 in the opening 10 minutes of the game isn’t going to fly all season. They’ll need to start stronger on Saturday in Washington.
“You can’t spot any team in the league lead like that,” Keefe said, displeased. “I mean, I don’t know that they deserve to be up three like the way that they were. But, the reality is, they were. That’s a hard hole to get out of, for sure. The puck play was not nearly good enough, and defending was not even close.”
Not Enough Pressure
The Maple Leafs deployed a rookie goaltender in Hildeby on Thursday night. The 23-year-old Swedish goaltender made his NHL debut against the Devils, and New Jersey made his night way too easy.
Halfway through the game, the Devils hadn’t even broken 10 shots, registering just nine by the midway point of the second period.
Part of the Devils’ issue was they struggled to find shooting lanes and when they did, the Maple Leafs negated any secondary scoring chances. Further, they allowed Hildeby to see most shots he faced, including the one Meier scored on.
Yet, that’s the point. Meier scored on a very savable shot. The Devils just struggled to get pucks to the net. Had the Maple Leafs had Anthony Stolarz in net, they might not have even scored at all through the first 40 minutes.
“I think there were a few later on in the third period that, maybe if we were a little hungrier in front there with our stick and a little heavier on our stick with our two hand compete, I think we could have created some more chances,” Bratt explained.
Defense Struggles
The Devils’ defense did not have a good night, especially in the first period. Each of the first three goals of the game saw the Devils’ defense unable to clear the puck from high danger areas.
In fact, the Devils allowed the Maple Leafs to win puck battles in the slot, failed to clear bodies from the front of the crease, and created too much traffic in front of Markstrom.
Keefe explained he was disappointed with the Devils’ effort in their zone.
“Some of the defending, like just laying on our sticks, not going through bodies [wasn’t good].” Keefe said. “We had to defend more tonight, probably, than we had to out in Prague. But, yeah, [the effort] was not it.”
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