BURSTNEWARK, N.J. — You play 82 of these suckers, and you’re going to get one like this.
A game where one team tilts the ice so dramatically that it’s nearly a right angle. Where they impress their head coach, win the puck battles, dominate the charts, graphs, and eyeballs… and still lose.
“Best goaltending in the league on the other side,” New Jersey Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said of his former team, which has now beaten him twice in his new barn.
“It was our best game of the season. I’m leaving here today feeling as good as I have about our team all year.”
And yet, it is the Toronto Maple Leafs leaving here today with a 2-1 comeback overtime victory and the two points, thanks to a headstand netminding from Jersey boy Anthony Stolarz and a clutch breakaway finish from Auston Matthews.
But mostly Stolarz, who made 37 saves to Jacob Markstrom’s 12.
Let’s be honest: Stolie stole one.
The man should’ve been wearing a balaclava, not a shiny goalie mask.
“Without him, it’s not even close. So, big props to him,” Chris Tanev said. “Better third (period) for us. But first two were god-awful. So thankfully, he made a key number of saves that allowed us to keep it 1-0.”
The Devils smothered their visitors from puck drop, dominating Toronto through 20 minutes in shots (15-1), shot attempts (36-8), scoring chances (21-2), and high-danger opportunities (7-0).
“Clearly our best first period of the season,” Keefe said. “Not even close.”
And the Leafs’ worst. Not even close.
But the goalie gets paid, too. And the scoreboard read zeros until Jesper Bratt and Ondrej Palat finally connected on one speedy New Jersey’s dangerous rushes midway through the second.
“First five minutes, they made seven shots,” Stolarz said. “When a team is going to pepper you early on and kind of get you in a groove, get you in the game, and it’s just up to you to stay in there and just keep battling.”
Toronto coach Craig Berube’s message was blunt: Get going. Move your feet. Make a play.
“We needed a wakeup call,” Matthews said.
And a break they maybe didn’t deserve from the hockey gods.
When penalty killer Connor Dewar hustled into the O-zone to pressure the Devils’ power-play deep in the third, Pontus Holmberg pounced on a loose puck and squeaked a puck through Markstrom’s five-hole. Tie game.
“We got more chances shorthanded than we did five-on-five tonight and power play,” Berube said.
Then Matthews, who had missed the net or been stopped cold on three previous clean chances on Markstrom, roofed the clock-stopper in extra time.
“Yeah, that felt really good. Couldn’t quite seem to find my spot there a couple times, but just tried to stick with it,” Matthews said. “Very ugly on our side for most of the game, so squeak out this one. It’s good to be back in the one column. And just want to continue that momentum and be better the next game.”
The one Maple Leaf who will be hard-pressed to be better is Stolarz.
The boy who grew up a Devils fan in Edison, N.J., was originally to start for the Leafs at Prudential Center back in October, a plan that was derailed by Joseph Woll’s pulled groin. (Dennis Hildeby got the tap that night.)
So, Stolarz invited 40 friends and family members to this one, and put on a heckuva show.
“I’m gonna go try to see everyone right now,” Stolarz said post-game. “They’re my biggest supporters and people have been with me since Day 1. So, to be able to share this experience of playing the NHL with them, and have them come out and just see the smiles on their faces, win or lose, just means a lot to me — and means a lot to them as well.
“Must be that New Jersey water.”
Stolarz’s save percentage is now a sparkling .928.
Matthews says the six-foot-six, 243-pounder’s combination of size and athleticism makes him so difficult to beat.
Oh, and one other thing.
“I think both our goalies are extremely mentally strong,” Matthews said.
Most road wins are joyous. They become congratulatory celebrations of hard-fought triumphs on enemy territory.
This one? This was more sheepish relief.
A quick duck out of the building, two points in the duffle bag, with Keefe staring helplessly at an empty vault and Stolarz revving the getaway car.
“It’s one of those games,” Berube shrugged.
“I mean, I’m not really going to read into it too much. I’m not going to talk about it too much. Our goalie was excellent. We found a way to get two points. That’s all that matters.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• In a past life, Max Pacioretty was a six-time 30-goal triggerman.
In his current one, the veteran is once again on a top line, but his role has changed.
Pacioretty notes how many of the best lines in hockey are composed of three ingredients: a grinder, a passer, and a shooter.
“It’s fun to change things up,” says Pacioretty, who saw shifts with Matthews and Mitch Marner. “I know where I stand when I play with Auston and Mitchy.
“I told a few people: 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.”
Pacioretty gives a nod to Dale Weise from his Montreal days.
Patches 2.0 is finding out the hard way that reinvention takes a physical toll.
“I needed that day off (Sunday),” he says. “I was in bed the whole day.”
• No response from the Devils on this one, eh?
• Quite the indictment of Nick Robertson and Alex Nylander’s value to Berube when the Maple Leafs are starving for secondary scoring and both get healthy scratched against a high-flying, not-so-physical Devils squad.
• “When you’re coaching in a place like Toronto, it is sort of another whole part of the job to manage and answer the questions and be the voice of the team,” Keefe told The Athletic’s Peter Baugh in an interview.
“If you don’t handle that well, then you can kind of set things off. And if you handle it well, then you can keep things under control. That’s a whole thing I don’t really have to think about as much anymore.”
Also this nugget: “Maybe not the most ideal situation to have it be your first NHL job.”
• All-time Marlies leading scorer Alex Steeves’s mom showing up for puck drop with a homemade sign is the wholesome content you didn’t know you needed:
“It’s a game full of frustrations,” Steeves told reporters. “Everybody’s frustrated in their own way trying to advance in their career, but it’s nice to take a moment to be grateful for the things you do have and the amazing support group and everything here with the Marlies.”
