We're going to be honest: there's not much to say except that Tuesday night was an example of bad luck. The New Jersey Devils dominated the Toronto Maple Leafs at both ends of the ice for 60 minutes. That had a litany of high-danger chances, and they prevented the Leafs from getting much of anything on Markstrom. They stopped the Leafs every time they were in the zone, and they made it a habit of having easy zone entries on the other side. In overtime, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and Jack Hughes all had top-notch opportunities.
And the Devils still lost.
It is the most baffling result of the season. The Devils did everything right. They avoided mistakes. They didn't even let shots on Jacob Markstrom. And they lost. The Devils allowed one shot in the entire first period. They only allowed five in the second. This is one of the most dynamic offenses in the league, and the Devils defense dominated.
And they lost.
It's truly hard to wrap ones head around it. Ondrej Palat had the Devils only goal, in a night where many more eyes than usual were on the game. Not only was it a Leafs game, the largest fanbase in the league, but it was on ESPN+ and Hulu, so we had national streaming audiences tuning in. It should have been a showcase for a dominant Devils performance. Instead, it will only be remembered for the dirty hit on Jack Hughes and the Auston Matthews overtime goal.
New Jersey Devils inexplicably lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Auston Matthews' overtime goal.
This was Sheldon Keefe's second shot to beat his former team. He failed again, but it wasn't for lack of effort. After putting together the wrong game plan in October during their first matchup, Keefe hit every button right on the head on Tuesday night. His defensive gameplan was perfect. His offensive gameplan should have warranted a minimum of three goals. Anthony Stolarz drew inspiration from playing in front of his family and friends and added to his ridiculous first season in Toronto. He stopped 38 of 39 shots against.
The Devils literally dominated in everything except goaltending. They won the high-danger chance disparity by 17-8. They had expected goals on tap by a score of 4.5 to 1.8. They had 71 actual chances to the Leafs 46. It was a balanced effort, with all players on the ice for at least two high-danger chances and no player on for more than five at 5v5. Stats via Natural Stat Trick.
Simply, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. This was a goalie in Stolarz letting in nothing, a goalie in Markstrom letting in a softie and just terrible luck for the Devils.