Toronto Maple Leafs Blow Out Devils in New Jersey Exorcism

The power of the Toronto Maple Leafs compels you!

Friends and colleagues we gather here today to mourn the death of the New Jersey Devils. This young and underperforming team welcomed a group of rambunctious Toronto Maple Leafs to their home ice. This would prove to be a mistake. The result was a 7-2 massacre in which the Maple Leafs could not stop finding ways to put the puck in the back of the net.

In the third seven-goal output of the Maple Leafs this year, they rebounded from two losses in Florida to improve to 22-10-2, giving them sole possession of second place in the Atlantic Division and they are now eight points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning with a game in hand.

While Frederik Andersen stopping 27 of 29, the Maple Leafs didn’t have to pull out all of the offensive stops, but they did, and it made for a fun night of hockey in Leafs Nation

Stop They’re Already Dead!

11 different Maple Leafs tallied a point in this one, with five players having multi-point outings.

The goal scorers in this one were from all over the lineup, with Auston Matthews netting his 17th of the year and John Tavares put in his 21st. Elsewhere Morgan Rielly continued to find twine with his 11th and Mitch Marner scored only his ninth goal of the year to go along with his ridiculous 35 assists.

But the goal contributors didn’t stop there, as “Old-Man” Patrick Marleau found the back of the net for his ninth of the year and 544th goal of his career, moving him into a tie with Maurice Richard for 30th all time. And Tyler Ennis continued to be a valuable asset, scoring two goals to bring his season total to eight. A fun fact is that all six goal scorers were a first round pick, a stat neatly pointed out by the NHL’s PR Twitter account.

Assist-wise, Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown both tallied three helpers on the night, bringing their point totals to 19 and 12, respectively. Brown’s three points ended a six-game pointless streak for him. Also chipping in an assist were Travis Dermott, Jake Gardiner, Par Lindholm, Matthews and Tavares.

Last night’s offensive explosion showed just how deep the Maple Leafs’ lineup is.

They have goal scorers on every line and on the defence while maintaining a sense of structure in their team that makes their scoring consistent. It’s no wonder why this team is second in the NHL in goals scored (124 goals, 3.64 goals per game).

Devils Fans, Let’s Talk

Now I highly doubt any Devils fans are going to read this unless some of them are into masochism, but after a bad loss like that I believe it’s important to talk is out. If any Devils fans are reading this, know that your season isn’t completely lost yet.

Yes you guys are 11-14-7, are last in the Metropolitan Division, and aren’t the cream of the crop in the NHL when it comes to offence or defence, but we aren’t even at the All-Star break yet, you still have 50 games to go with a young team that many thought wouldn’t make the playoffs last year, and look what happened.

And you may be in last, but your division isn’t exactly the best in hockey. Only 9 points separate last place and third place in the Metro, compared to 13 in the Atlantic, 14 in the Central and 16 in the Pacific. You guys are also 10 points back of a wild-card spot, you have plenty of time to right the ship.

Scotiabank Sweet Scotiabank

So the five-game road trip didn’t turn out in the best way for the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-2-1, with all three losses coming to Atlantic Division foes), but the Leafs are still in second place and, barring a complete disaster, are going to make the playoffs.

That doesn’t mean that being back at home isn’t important, because it very much is. The Toronto Maple Leafs are back at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday for their first of a three-game homestand, this one against the Atlantic Division’s last-place team, the Florida Panthers.

Thanks for reading!