Anthony Stolarz starts in goal and Max Domi is a game-time decision as the Maple Leafs look to snap a two-game losing slide in their second visit to New Jersey this season (7:00 p.m. EST, TSN4).
Mission one for a Leafs team that has conceded the first goal three games in a row is a good start against a Devils team that has been most vulnerable on home ice so far this season, sitting 7-6-2 overall at the Prudential Center and conceding the first goal in 11 of those 15 games (a league-worst mark on home ice). One of those 11 games came against the Leafs in the second game of the season, as Toronto ran up a 3-0 lead in the first period en route to a 4-2 victory.
The Leafs have been one of the best teams in the league at playing from in front this season; they’d be wise to manufacture more urgency and sharpness in their execution from the drop of the puck to set themselves up for success on the road, where they are a paltry 4-5-2 so far this season.
Equally important against the league’s top power play (NJ is a league-leading 32.6% on the man advantage) is staying out of the box, as the Leafs continue to pile up the negative penalty differential, particularly on the road. On a per-60 basis, the Leafs take 1.17 more penalties per road game than they draw, which is worst rate in the league.
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on the challenge presented by the Devils:
They have some great players over there with tons of speed and talent. Their power play is number one in the league. They play a good brand of hockey. They do a lot with the puck and make a lot of plays. They have great speed. Very good power play.
Berube on whether there are lessons to be learned from the 4-2 win over the Devils in the second game of the season:
You always look at how we played against them, what we did well, and things you can take away. But things have changed, too, with their team and our team.
Again, we have to check well tonight. We have to take away their speed as best we can and be disciplined.
Berube on the differences and similarities between Mitch Marner and Jack Hughes:
Jack is the type of guy who attacks with a little bit more speed and is looking to shoot a bit more than Mitch. Mitch is more of a pass-first guy who is looking for people who are open.
Jack is an elite playmaker, but he shoots a lot. He gets shots through and to the net.
Berube on the keys to the bottom six providing more offensively:
Put the puck in the net.
They’ve had opportunities. I don’t think it is from a lack of opportunities. They have done a good job of hounding in the offensive zone, being heavy down low, getting pucks to the net, and trying to score greasy goals around the net. That is how they are going to score.
They are doing a good job of getting to the net, too. When it goes low-to-high and our D are shooting pucks, they are at the net. They just have to dig in a little more around there, find some loose pucks, and bang them home.
It is a simple brand of hockey that they need to play. It is not all about scoring with those guys, either. Their job is to check, be physical, and do all of these other things, too. They are doing a good job of it, but we do need guys to contribute a little bit in the bottom six.
Max Pacioretty on his role on the Matthews-Marner line:
I feel I can help those guys in the sense of digging up loose pucks for them, getting in on the forecheck, being physical, creating some time and space, and getting to the net so they can kind of play their game and find their lanes.
I’ve told a few people that I have a lot more appreciation for some of the guys I played with earlier in my career who did a lot of the dirty work. It is fun being able to change things up a bit and try to help those guys out with a bit of a different role.
Hopefully, we can get a bit of chemistry and get hot.
Sheldon Keefe on the challenge presented by the Maple Leafs:
They have premiere players who are difference-makers. In their team play, they make it hard to get to their net. Their goaltending has been as good as there is in the league.
There are a lot of challenges there. We have to lead with our work ethic and our competitiveness, and make sure we are ready to skate and compete at a high level tonight. Hopefully, we hope we can make some differences when the opportunities present themselves.
Keefe on the emotions entering the second matchup of the season vs. his former team:
Honestly, it feels a little more like just another game on the schedule. We saw them once already. It was so early, fresh, and new on so many levels. Now, in preparing for them, it feels like another team — another great team — on the schedule.
We have had number of challenges, whether it is Florida, Carolina, Washington, or teams of that nature. This team is no different in terms of every detail needing to be great tonight.
Keefe, in an interview with Jonas Siegel, on the Leafs’ defensive play during his time and where the team ultimately fell short:
I look back to my time in Toronto as hard to compute, quite honestly. Because we were one way in the regular season. At times, we scored a lot. At times, (we) didn’t defend nearly well enough; at times, (we) did. I think we don’t get enough credit for defending like we did. And then we get into the playoffs and I don’t think defending was ever really an issue. We couldn’t score. That part of it is difficult. But it’s just a reminder for me of how hard we need to push to be able to learn to score in different ways in the regular season (with the Devils). So no matter what we approach in the playoffs, we can deal with it.
But yeah, that was one of the things. We talk a lot in Toronto about trying to be better defensively. I don’t think that’s ever why we lost in the playoffs. You look back at all these Game 7s and all these series that we could have won before getting to Game 7, the number of opportunities we have to score goals or not being able to generate enough. That’s the big reason why we lost. And that doesn’t necessarily jive with the perception of the team, say, in the regular season.
… You look back, you watch that Boston series (in 2024), we played very well defensively. We played very hard. We were right there, even with no Auston or no Willy. Even (Bobby) McMann was a big loss for us. I thought we were right there, could have won that series. This Montreal series that we lost (in 2021). I look back at that and I remember going back through it. We lost two games in overtime when we had them facing elimination. We had 15 two-on-ones in that series, and 11 of them came in our four losses, and we scored on zero.
So it’s like, we score on a couple of those, the series is over, and then who knows what happens from there. But it’s little things like that. We gotta be able to come through in big moments and condition yourself to do so. Clearly, I didn’t do a good enough job of that.
But I do think our group pulled together and defended hard when we needed to. There were certainly times when we didn’t do it enough in the regular season. But there are also times when we did it extremely well, and we made a lot of gains in that area. Sometimes, we dealt with a lot of stuff on the back end. We dealt with some stuff in goal that affected us.
Keefe on the comment from MLSE CEO Keith Pelley that the “chemistry wasn’t quite right” between Keefe and management:
I’ve never had a real conversation with Keith Pelley before, so I don’t know what that is. I spent hours and hours with (Brad). I was surprised that I was back (as Leafs coach) a year ago.
… Probably nobody in the organization there knows me better than Brendan Shanahan, who worked so closely with me and with everything from “Blueprint” or the Amazon show, has probably watched hundreds of hours behind the scenes of me working, and probably knows me better than anybody in hockey; (he) decided to keep me around.
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs (16-9-2) vs. Devils (18-10-2)
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, New Jersey holds the advantage in five out of five offensive categories and three out of five defensive categories.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#67 Max Pacioretty — #34 Auston Matthews — #16 Mitch Marner
#23 Matthew Knies — #91 John Tavares — #88 William Nylander
#18 Steven Lorentz — #39 Fraser Minten — #11 Max Domi
#29 Pontus Holmberg — #24 Connor Dewar —#75 Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
#95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #51 Philippe Myers
#2 Simon Benoit — #25 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
Starter: #41 Anthony Stolarz
#60 Joseph Woll
Extras: Marshall Rifai, Alex Nylander, Nick Robertson
Injured (day-to-day): Jake McCabe
Injured (IR): Bobby McMann, Jani Hakanpää
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf
New Jersey Devils Projected Lines
Forwards
#28 Timo Meier — #13 Nico Hischier — #91 Dawson Mercer
#18 Ondrej Palat — #86 Jack Hughes — #63 Jesper Bratt
#47 Paul Cotter — #56 Erik Haula — #11 Stefan Noesen
#90 Tomas Tatar — #37 Justin Dowling — #14 Nathan Bastian
Defensemen
#5 Brenden Dillon — #7 Dougie Hamilton
#43 Luke Hughes — #22 Brett Pesce
#71 Jonas Siegenthaler — #8 Johnathan Kovacevic
Goaltenders
#25 Jacob Markstrom
#65 Isaac Poulter
Injured/Out: Jake Allen, Curtis Lazar, Santeri Hatakka
