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The Maple Leafs’ goaltending depth faces an early test as Dennis Hildeby makes his NHL debut between the pipes in the Sheldon Keefe Bowl tonight in New Jersey (7:00 p.m. EST, TSN4).

Taking on the rested Devils in their home opener, a tired Maple Leafs team will also inject Bobby McMann’s fresh legs into the fourth line in place of Ryan Reaves. Despite two extra bodies on the blue line, it appears they will proceed with the same group of six D from the 1-0 loss in Montreal.

The defense had a reasonably strong game as a unit at both ends of the ice in the opener, but it’s notable that Timothy Liljegren, a regular for the past two seasons currently making $3 million, appears to be in line for a healthy scratch from both the opening-night lineup and a back-to-back/tired situation tonight as trade speculation swirls.

The Devils are off to a 2-0-0 start under Keefe after 4-1 and 3-1 wins over Buffalo in Prague, with tonight’s starter, Jacob Markstrom, picking up a 30-save victory in his Devils debut. Depth scoring was a strong suit for NJ in Czechia as Paul Cotter scored twice, Stefan Noesen chipped in a goal, and they received goals from defensemen Seamus Casey and Johnathan Kovacevic, on top of a goal each from Timo Meier and Nico Hischier.

The Leafs, on the other hand, are looking for their first win under Craig Berube and for their offense to come to life after throwing 48 shots at Montreal’s Samuel Montembeault without success in the opener.


Game Day Quotes

Craig Berube on the keys to generating more offense than in the season opener:

We had traffic. I think we didn’t capitalize on rebounds enough. I think we can go downhill a little bit more offensively. At times, we got pucks to the net, obviously, but we didn’t get the rebounds enough for me.

Berube on the challenge of playing an opponent in its home opener: 

There is a lot of waiting around with all of the introduction, but I don’t feel that played into it last night. Our start was good. We took the penalty early, which kind of killed our momentum a little bit, but our guys were ready to go last night.

We have to do the same tonight. It is back-to-back on the road for a home opener, but we have to mentally be ready to go, have a strong start, and manage things early. Be straight line, play north early, and be patient. Don’t allow them to get above us.

Berube on the expectations for Bobby McMann as he re-enters the lineup:

Use his size and his speed to be a power forward kind of player. That’s what he should be. He can really skate and is strong on pucks. Take things to the net, get to the net offensively, and be responsible defensively.

Berube on Hildeby receiving the nod in net:

He’s played well in pre-season. I really liked his game in Montreal, so he’ll be in the net tonight.

Anthony Stolarz on Hildeby:

He was tremendous in preseason. I was with him in a lot of the sessions. He has a nice calmness in his game. He moves extremely well for a guy of his size. You can see in his demeanour off the ice that he is calm, cool, and collected… Excited for him.

Sheldon Keefe on Hildeby:

He had a tremendous season last year. He is a huge guy. He is older than his experience would say in North America. He has had some experience in Europe. Tremendous year last season as a first year in North America, and it seems like he has had a good preseason.

I am not too concerned about who will be in goal for them tonight. They got a tremendous performance last night in goal. We have a lot to worry about, including protecting our own goalies and finding a way to get to whoever is in net for them.

Keefe on the keys to shutting down Auston Matthews: 

Keep the puck away from him and make him defend. Minimize your mistakes, and get some love from the crossbars, like last night.

Keefe on the similarities between the two teams after the pre-scout:

Quite honestly, there are a lot of similarities in how both teams want to play and things we are trying to establish or did establish over there. In terms of structure, it is pretty similar. There are some differences in the defensive and neutral zones, but offensively, it is a lot of what you’d expect.

Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier on a home opening game versus Keefe’s former team:

Bratt: “We know this is an emotional game for [Keefe], and we all want to help him to get that win.”

Nico Hischier: “There’s definitely, in the room, some little extra motivation for sure.”


Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs vs. Devils

In the 2023-24 regular season statistics, the Leafs held the advantage over the Devils in five out of five offensive categories and three out of five defensive categories.


Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines

Forwards
#23 Matthew Knies — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#11 Max Domi — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#67 Max Pacioretty — #29 Pontus Holmberg — #89 Nick Robertson
#18 Steven Lorentz — #64 David Kampf — #74 Bobby McMann

Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly — #8 Chris Tanev
#95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson — #22 Jake McCabe
#2 Simon Benoit — #25 Conor Timmins

Goaltenders
#35 Dennis Hildeby
#41 Anthony Stolarz

Extras:
Philippe Myers, Ryan Reaves, Timothy Liljegren
Injured (IR): Joseph Woll
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok, Jani Hakanpaa, Connor Dewar, Dakota Mermis


New Jersey Devils Projected Lines

Forwards
#28 Timo Meier — #86 Jack Hughes — #63 Jesper Bratt
#90 Tomas Tatar — #13 Nico Hischier — #91 Dawson Mercer
#18 Ondrej Palat — #56 Erik Haula — #11 Stefan Noesen
#47 Paul Cotter — #42 Curtis Lazar — #14 Nathan Bastian

Defensemen
#5 Brenden Dillon — #7 Dougie Hamilton
#71 Jonas Siegenthaler — #8 Johnathan Kovacevic
Seamus Casey — #17 Simon Nemec

Goaltenders
#25 Jacob Markstrom
#34 Jake Allen

Injured/Out: Luke Hughes, Santeri Hatakka, Brett Pesce