The Toronto Maple Leafs are still keeping pace with the Florida Panthers as the second seed in the Atlantic Division is still in reach. They’re also maintaining separation from the Tampa Bay Lightning so as to not drop down into the wild card spot. On top of picking up a big win over the New Jersey Devils, the Leafs celebrated something much bigger than two standing points.
In the game, Auston Matthews scored his 66th goal of the season to set a new salary cap era record. He officially passed Alex Ovechkin‘s record of 65 goals set 16 years ago back in the 2007–08 season.
Game charts are all below, read on to see it all!
Game events
- The game was all Toronto from the get-go. In every period, they came one shot short of doubling the Devils’ shot output: The shots read 7–4 in the first, and 15–8 in both the second and third periods.
- Somehow, the Devils posted just five hits. As per NHL.com, this puts the Devils in an eight-way tie for the second-fewest hits in a game this year. Only the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars have registered fewer, each posting just four hits once this season.
Goals
| Goal | Assists | Time | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Robertson | Unassisted | 8:56 | 1st | TOR 1 – 0 NJD |
| Nico Hischier | Dawson Mercer, Brendan Smith | 14:25 | 1st | TOR 1 – 1 NJD |
| Dawson Mercer (PPG) | Nico Hischier | 5:17 | 2nd | TOR 1 – 2 NJD |
| Tyler Bertuzzi | Max Domi, Jake McCabe | 15:00 | 2nd | TOR 2 – 2 NJD |
| Mark Giordano | Auston Matthews, Tyler Bertuzzi | 15:09 | 2nd | TOR 3 – 2 NJD |
| Auston Matthews | Max Domi | 7:33 | 3rd | TOR 4 – 2 NJD |
| Tyler Bertuzzi | Jake McCabe, Mitch Marner | 18:47 | 3rd | TOR 5 – 2 NJD |
- The Leafs got up ahead in the first but actually found themselves trailing early in the second period. However, they scored four unanswered goals to tie then take the lead.
- The game-winner was scored by Mark Giordano nine seconds after the Leafs tied it up, while Matthew’s record-setting goal came as insurance early in the third.
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All situations Corsi
- The Leafs were unrelenting on the puck as they kept shooting no matter the score.
- The biggest Corsi boost on any man advantage came from the Devils late in the game, but Joseph Woll stood tall in the final minutes.
- The Leafs dominated the net-front areas but didn’t get any goals to show for it.
- On the other end of the ice, the Devils barely touched the high-danger spots but got two goals.
- Thankfully for Toronto, they scored from a lot of other areas to mitigate their lack of goals in the slot.
- A game like this is a good game to build on. Even when things don’t go right with the high-percentage shots, Toronto knows they have the skill to score from other areas.
5v5 Corsi
- The Leafs scored four goals at 5v5, which is a great output in any game.
- Arguably more impressively, Toronto completely nullified the Devils at 5v5 as they barely gave up anything at all. New Jersey had long stretches of play without any shot attempts let alone shots.
- The shot locations simply confirm the above statement. Toronto did not give the Devils much to work with as the Leafs’ defence kept the Devils’ offence well to the outside.
- Toronto meanwhile still got the bulk of their 5v5 shots right in the slot.
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