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Matthews outburst squandered by shoddy defense in loss to Devils

November 24, 2016, 10:23 PM ET [151 Comments]
Mike Augello
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
There had to be a collective sigh of relief coming from the visiting locker room at the Prudential Center after the first period on Wednesday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs held a three-goal lead over the New Jersey Devils and rookie Auston Matthews, who had gone 13 games without a goal, scored twice and assisted on Nazem Kadri’s eighth goal of the year, but the young club saw their lead quickly evaporate in a 5-4 shootout loss at “the Rock” in Newark, NJ.

The Devils appeared weary early in their first home game since returning from the West Coast, but within six minutes, had erased the Toronto lead on goals from Travis Zajac, Beau Bennett and Mike Cammalleri.

“It's evident how young we are. You're up 3-0 and you come out and the next two plays you make in the second period are basically free gifts.” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “We rim the puck and the d-man follows it out of the zone and they're underneath us. Then with 11 seconds left in the penalty kill, instead of dumping it in and getting a change we turn it over and they go the other way. Those are things you've got to learn how to win.”

Matt Martin put Toronto back into the lead midway through the middle frame with his first goal of the season, but Yohann Auvitu tied the game in the third and after a scoreless overtime, Jacob Josefson tallied the lone goal in the shootout to give New Jersey their seventh victory in eight home games.



It was not a particularly strong night for either goaltender, as Cory Schnieder allowed three goals on eight shots in the first, but rebounded in a 27-save outing. Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves in an inconsistent effort in his first start since October 30, but made some key stops in the third period.

The defensive pairing of Morgan Rielly and Nikita Zaitsev had a difficult night in Newark, as they were on the ice for all three of the Devils even-strength goals.

Rielly also had difficulty clearing the front of the net in a battle with Nick Lappin on Auvitu’s tying goal, which may have been waived off for goaltender interference had the Leafs not used their timeout after surrendering their three-goal lead.

“I thought I felt something,” Enroth said. “I was a little bit off-balance but, like I said, I haven't seen the replay yet so I can't really say anything.”

Rielly and Zaitsev played over 24 minutes, while Martin Marincin (who was +2 on the night), played just 11:17. The use of the fourth line was also curious in the second of back-to-back games, as Martin and Nikita Soshnikov played less than eight minutes and Ben Smith saw 10:47.

Babcock followed a similar pattern in the last back-to-back situation, using the combo of Martin, Peter Holland and Soshnikov less than 10 minutes against Pittsburgh on November 12, when it would be logical to use the fourth line more.

The Leafs are now 1-5-4 on the road, with the only victory a 2-1 win in Buffalo on November 3. In games where Toronto has scored two goals or less, their record is 1-5-0. In games where they have scored three or more goals, they have lost all four in either overtime or a shootout.

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The curious case of Brandon Prust may finally be coming to a resolution. The veteran forward has been practicing with the Leafs since training camp in hopes of being signed to an NHL contract.

Toronto has had an open spot to sign someone since Seth Griffith was claimed off waivers by Florida, and yet they have not made a move on Prust or goalie Karri Ramo, who is close to being healthy enough to return to action.

Prust’s agent Claude Lemieux told Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston that the winger has received an offer from a team in Germany and that he will sign there if a deal with Toronto is not reached in the next few days.

The Leafs could be waiting for a decision on the Jared Cowen buyout from an NHL arbitrator (according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, a ruling was to be made by mid-to-late November), which would open up a spot under the 50-man contract limit.

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