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Depth forwards make difference in win over Devils; Leafs vs. Bruins

November 10, 2018, 2:26 PM ET [612 Comments]
Mike Augello
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For most of the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been registering victories mostly due to the efforts of their core group, but in their 6-1 win over the New Jersey Devils at Scotiabank Arena on Friday, the Leafs were able to get offensive contributions from sources that to this point have trouble getting on the scoreboard.

John Tavares, Nazem Kadri, Andreas Johnsson, Connor Brown, Morgan Rielly and Tyler Ennis scored in the club’s third straight victory, Ron Hainsey and Par Lindholm had a pair of assists and Frederik Andersen made 38 saves for Toronto, who move to 11-5-0 on the season and .500 (5-5-0) on home ice with the win.



Tavares and Kadri put the Leafs up 2-0 early in the second, but the third line put the game away later in the middle frame, as Lindholm set up Brown for an easy tap in past Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid to extend the lead and Johnsson tapped in a rebound of a Jake Gardiner shot for his first of the season.

“Yeah, it felt good to score a first goal, especially now that we win here. That was probably the most chances I’ve had in a game so it was nice to get it.” Johnsson said about notching his first tally in 11 games. “I didn’t really get frustrated but when you get one of those opportunities, you feel like you’re going to score.”



The six goal output represented the Leafs best offensive display at home all season, something that head coach Mike Babcock credited to hard work.

“If the players work real hard and things come together, we have a chance to have a lot of success. That's what we're trying to do each and every day and some days it goes good.” Babcock said. “There was a lot of those seeing eye pucks tonight that went through crowds and it's never fun being on the wrong end of those. It's more fun when you're on the right end.”

The club immediately departed for the airport following the victory and will play their first back-to-back in over a month against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday night. The Leafs are not holding a morning skate that would provide any early indicator, but it is expected that backup Garret Sparks will make the start for Toronto.

Sparks has not started since October 13th (a 4-1 victory over the Kings) and will not be waiting as long for his next action, since the Leafs play back-to-back in San Jose and Anaheim during their West Coast swing next week.

The Bruins (8-5-2) are coming off an 8-5 loss to Vancouver on Thursday and will be without goalie Tuukka Rask, who was given a leave of absence for personal matters on Friday. Boston will start Jaroslav Halak (4-1-2, 1.96 GAA, .936 save %) has been the better performer this season and will get the start against the Leafs in the first meeting since the Game 7 loss in the first round over six months ago.

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Scout Watch

A lighter than usual night in the press box for scouts at Scotiabank Arena on Friday, but Carolina AGM Rick Dudley was there once again, as well as representatives from the Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning.




The Leafs had a scout at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday and the Flyers have been a regular presence in Toronto over the last few weeks. Tampa has been well represented as well, but with their forward compliment well stocked, it is more likely advance scouting of a key division rival.

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