Home Sports Maple Leafs vs. Devils observations: Matthews inches closer to 70 goals in a concerning loss

Maple Leafs vs. Devils observations: Matthews inches closer to 70 goals in a concerning loss

Alexandra Williams
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Maple Leafs vs. Devils observations: Matthews inches closer to 70 goals in a concerning loss

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The Toronto Maple Leafs’ 6-5 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday was nothing if not chaotic.

Just 39 seconds into the game, two goals had been scored. Twice more, a pair of goals went in less than two minutes apart.

There was also a disallowed goal from Nick Robertson, a fighting instigator penalty by Max Domi that shuffled the top-nine for a huge chunk of the game, and three power-play goals from a Devils unit (missing Jack Hughes) that had been ice cold in recent weeks.

A strong performance from Ilya Samsonov would’ve done a great deal to calm things down — but that’s not what Toronto got from the goalie, who conceded six goals on 20 shots that had an expected goal value of 1.88.

Neither team managed to pull away all evening, but the Devils struck last, getting a dagger off the stick of Jesper Bratt with 74 seconds remaining.

The highlight for the Maple Leafs was Auston Matthews scoring two goals to reach 68, giving a significant boost to his quest for 70.

Three stars

1. John Tavares

Tavares made his mark by opening the scoring less than a minute in, and tying the game with less than five minutes left.

While the Matthews unit understandably soaked up much of the spotlight, the Taveras and Marner group — whether they were joined by Bobby McMann or William Nylander —  was Toronto’s most consistent line in terms of keeping up offensive pressure.

Taveras was only on the ice for two shots against despite playing more minutes against the Graeme Clarke-Nico Hischier-Bratt line than against any other Devils forwards. He finished the game with a five-on-five expected goal rate of 91.12 percent and was a monster in the faceoff dot, winning 17 of 22 draws.

2. Auston Matthews

The march to 70 goals has been absolutely relentless of late.

Matthews didn’t have an ideal start to his night, with New Jersey getting a goal on his first shift, but he got things on track from there by scoring Toronto’s second goal just over five minutes later.

The superstar’s goal nudged up his Maple Leafs single-season record — and far more obscurely set the adjusted goal mark, as he had entered Thursday’s action tied with Babe Dye’s 1924-25 season at 68.

On a historical note that doesn’t include anyone born before 1900, that goal was the 50th that Matthews has scored at even strength in 2023-24, making him the seventh player to ever accomplish that feat — and the first since Teemu Selanne in 1992-1993. 

He wasn’t done at 67 goals, though. He went to the net midway through through the second period, and put a fine Domi feed past Jake Allen.

He now sits all alone in third place on Toronto’s all-time goal list, and first on the even-strength leaderboard. Scoring two more goals in three games doesn’t seem like a big ask for Matthews, who has 13 goals in his last 13 games.

3. Max Domi

Domi provided a perfect demonstration of his unusual skill set on Thursday night.

There are a few players who are as good at putting their teammates in position to score as the 29-year-old, who came into this game ranked second in the NHL in five-on-five assists per 60 minutes — behind only Connor McDavid. Among that group, there aren’t many guys with an enthusiasm for dropping the mitts when the situation calls for it.

In the first two periods against the Devils, Domi provided primary assists on both of the Matthews goals and came to his linemate’s defence by fighting Šimon Nemec.

The feisty forward got an instigator for that play, and probably overestimated the degree to which Nemec had done anything wrong to Matthews. Still, his zeal was for defending the superstar was notable.

Domi is making a case to stay on the Matthews line come playoff time, with 12 points in his last 12 games.

A milestone night for Nylander

Most of the discussion around Maple Leafs milestones has centered around Matthews lately, as every goal he scores seems to be historic in one way or another, but Nylander reached a milestone of his own on Thursday.

The sniping winger played his 600th NHL game and finished a point-less night with 217 goals and 526 points in his career. Although Nylander has been through some up and downs, those numbers are a strong indication that the Maple Leafs made the right choice by picking him at No. 8 in the 2014 draft.

As a second-generation NHLer, Nylander has done a great job of establishing bragging rights over his father, Micheal, who played 15 seasons at the game’s highest level. The comparison between the two through 600 games is favourable to William, at least as far as offensive numbers are concerned.

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Thursday might not be the biggest milestone night Nylander has left in the season, as he’s four points away from 100 with three games remaining.

Edmundson’s return

After missing eight games due to an unspecified injury, big veteran Joel Edmundson was back in the lineup. Edmundson spent the vast majority of his five-on-five time as a Maple Leaf before his absence alongside Timothy Liljegren, but he had a different assignment against New Jersey, playing with T.J. Brodie.

In 19:22 on Thursday — a slight uptick from the blueliner’s 17:44 average in his first seven games with Toronto — he had a few clunky moments.

While some of them were benign, like this accidental slide into his partner…

…others were not — and Edmundson was most culpable for Bratt driving to the net for the game-winning goal.

When the dust had settled, Edmundson had two hits and three blocks, but he was the only Maple Leaf on the ice for four goals — with two coming at five-on-five. It wasn’t a banner night for him, but he was also shaking off some rust and playing with a new partner.

The consistency of Tavares

Tavares has seen his production drop off in 2023-24, but his goal 18 seconds into this game gave him 25 goals for the season — a bar he’s now cleared in 12 of his 15 seasons. Two of the times he fell short, he did so by a single goal, and on the other occasion he was a 19-year-old rookie.

Scoring 25 goals doesn’t make you a superstar, but Tavares deserves credit for filling the net year after year. Even though the centre has scored more than 40 just once, he came into Thursday’s game ranked fourth in the NHL in goals since he debuted in 2009-10. Only Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos and Patrick Kane have produced more.

As an aside, it’s worth noting the Matthews ranks 10th on that list, despite the fact he didn’t play for the first seven years of his captain’s career.

While Tavares has had an uneven season, there’s a great deal to be said for a player who’s made such a strong offensive impact year-in, year-out for so long.

Game score

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Final grade: C-

If the final games of the Maple Leafs’ regular season are best conceptualized as opportunities to prepare for the playoffs, coach Sheldon Keefe shouldn’t have warm, fuzzy, feelings about this effort.

On a positive note, Toronto had a shot share of 65.12 percent at five-on-five, with 65.53 percent of the expected goals. They outshot New Jersey 32-20, and might’ve run away with the game if not for a disallowed Robertson goal and Nylander having an uncharacteristically tough time burying top-notch opportunities.

For all the Maple Leafs did well, they experienced the kind of defensive-zone lapses that could burn them hard in the postseason. Two of New Jersey’s goals were gifts off the sticks of Brodie and Mark Giordano. Three more came on the power play. Even with key penalty-killer Jake McCabe taking a breather, that’s a brutal showing.

Samsonov could’ve done more to bail out of his teammates, but penalty-killing and turnovers have been longstanding concerns for Toronto, which has to be disconcerting for Keefe.

At the end of the day, a loss on home ice to a team without its biggest star, a team playing for absolutely nothing, is a grim outcome.

What’s next for the Leafs?

On Saturday, the Maple Leafs host the Detroit Red Wings at 7 p.m. ET on Hockey Night in Canada.

(Photo of Auston Matthews: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)



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