Brown Ties It, Devils Defeat Leafs In Shootout

Following a strong 5-1 victory against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, the Devils hosted the Maple Leafs, rallying for a shootout win to extend their winning streak to three. It was a back-and-forth battle, with Connor Brown tying the game late to force extra time, which led to a shootout. Timo Meier and Arseny Gritsyuk also found the back of the net for New Jersey. In the shootout, Paul Cotter and Jesper Bratt each scored, while Jacob Markstrom stopped both William Nylander and Auston Matthews to clinch the win. Unfortunately for Toronto, this was their fifth straight loss. Nylander, Matias Maccelli, and Matthew Knies each scored. The Devils will be hosting the New York Rangers on Saturday, aiming to keep the momentum rolling, while the Maple Leafs head to Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Toronto Maple Leafs Lineup:

Cowan – Matthews – Nylander
Knies – Tavares – Domi
Maccelli – Roy – Joshua
Robertson – Lorentz – Jarnkrok

McCabe – Stecher
Rielly – Carlo
Benoit – Myers

Stolarz
Woll

New Jersey Devils Lineup:

Meier – Hischier – Mercer
Gritsyuk – Hughes – Brown
Bratt – Glass – Hameenaho
Cotter – Bjugstad – Tsyplakov

Hughes – Kovacevic
Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Dillon – Nemec

Markstrom
Allen

To get things started, Matias Maccelli took a pass from Dakota Joshua, who got the puck along the left wall from Nicolas Roy, and Maccelli fired from the slot at 14:34, putting a wrist shot past Jacob Markstrom to put the Leafs ahead 1-0 in the first period. This was Maccelli’s 11th goal of the season. Timo Meier struck not long after, tying it 1-1 at 12:05 off a pass from Nico Hischier, who was fighting for the puck with Dawson Mercer in the corner, and Meier put in a snap shot from the left hashmark for his 17th goal of the season. This was also Meier’s third goal in five games for the Devils.

William Nylander took back the lead for Toronto 2-1 early in the second period at 16:39 right off the face-off when he deflected Easton Cowan’s shot from near the blue line off his lower back at the left post while on the power play. This was Nylander’s 21st goal of the season and his third in the past five games for the Maple Leafs. Arseny Gritsyuk recorded his 11th goal of the season to tie it 2-2 with his second goal in as many games when he received the puck from Jesper Bratt, who came from skating around the net before passing it to Gritsyuk for a one-timer at 13:54 just after a New Jersey penalty expired.

Matthew Knies gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead late in the third at 6:10 when he batted in a shot from Tavares into the net from the right post for his 16th goal of the season. With little time remaining, Connor Brown tied it 3-3 after taking a centering pass from Gritsyuk, chipping it over Anthony Stolarz’s glove as he crashed the net at 2:21. This was Brown’s 11th of the season.

Game Notes:

– In his second straight start, Jacob Markstrom made a total of 24 saves for New Jersey.

– Anthony Stolarz made a total of 44 saves for Toronto.

– Arseny Gritsyuk recorded both a goal and an assist, and Nico Hischier picked up a pair of assists.

– The Devils played without Brett Pesce after he sustained a lower-body injury against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.

– The Leafs played without Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann due to roster management purposes.

– The Devils are 31-29-2, and have won three straight after taking five losses in a row.

– The Leafs are 27-24-11, and have lost five in a row (0-3-2) and 11 of their past 14 (3-8-3).

– With his assist on the game-tying goal, Luke Hughes collected his 99th career assist. Hughes (207 GP) is on the pace to become the second-fastest defenseman to record 100 NHL assists in franchise history, following Brian Rafalski (204 GP).

– With his power-play goal, William Nylander ties both John Tavares and Wendel Clark (both with 79) for fifth place on the franchise’s all-time power-play goals list.

– Tavares is the eighth-fastest player in Maple Leafs history to record 300 assists with the franchise, and is the second-fastest in the past 25 years, following Mitch Marner (411 GP). Holding the franchise mark is Doug Gilmour (367 GP). …Tavares is the 10th player in NHL history to record 300 assists with multiple franchises. The others: Ron Francis (CAR/HFD & PIT), Al MacInnis (CGY & STL), Mark Messier (EDM & NYR), Scott Stevens (WSH & NJD), Dale Hunter (COL/QUE & WSH), Wayne Gretzky (EDM & LAK), Bobby Smith (MNS & MTL), Paul Coffey (EDM & PIT), and Norm Ullman (DET & TOR). 

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