Lucky Number 7

 

Photo From The Athletic

Well, that game was much better, after coming from behind to beat the Devils Monday night the two teams had a rematch this time in New Jersey. After Jack Campbell was pulled early in the first period a question Leaf fans had was who would start in the rematch would it be Mrazek who played well in relief, or would Campbell get a shot at redemption? Well Sheldon Keefe ended all speculation when he named Jack Campbell the Leafs starter. For the Devils their starting goalie would be Jon Gillies.

This game started the way so many thought the previous night was going to start because this time around it would be the Leafs that have control of this game right from the opening faceoff. Early on Toronto would set up shop in the Devils zone and throw wave after wave of pressure collecting scoring chances early and just two minutes into the game the visiting Leafs would open the scoring. Morgan Rielly would dump the puck into the New Jersey end and Gilles would try to play the puck but would end up losing it to Pierre Engvall who would throw the puck out front to Jason Spezza who would score his 9^th goal of the season and his magic number is now 15 points away from 1000. The Leafs would have the 1-0 lead and early on in this contest it seemed as if the Devils were gutted and taken out of this game because Toronto would just continue to apply pressure and search for more goals and with eight minutes played Toronto would double their lead.  Michael Bunting would win a battle for the puck along the boards and send a touch pass to Mitch Marner who would send a pass to Auston Matthews in the slot and Auston would make the Devils pay by beating Gillies on the glove side with a perfectly placed wrist shot for his 29^th goal of the season and his 50^th point of the season. This would be the 6^th season in a row that Auston reached the fifty-point mark, the Leafs would now lead 2-0 and the flood gates would open in this game. The boo birds would be out early during this game as the home fans had every reason to be frustrated because New Jersey were poor all night. The Devils night would get worst as the Leafs would find a third goal and all of this is before the halfway point of the first period. Justin Holl would send a stretch pass to Ilya Mikheyev who would use his speed to enter the zone and Ilya would pass to David Kampf who was open in the slot and his wrist shot would beat Gillies giving David Kampf five goals on the season snapping his twelve-game scoring drought in the process. Late in the first period Mitch Marner would join in on the scoring fun. Auston Matthews would gain possession of the puck behind the Devils goal he would then centre the puck to Mitch Marner who was waiting in front and his shot would slide through the pads of Gillies and the Leafs would lead 4-0 as Mitch would collect his 13^th goal of the season and extend his scoring streak to seven games. This one sided first period had the potential of seeing a franchise first. In their 100 plus year history the Toronto Maple Leafs had never scored five away goals in a period. They would have a great chance to make history as the Leafs would have a 5 on 3-man advantage with Pavel Zacha and Damon Severson serving minors for tripping and cross checking. Toronto’s power play would dominate possession and have all kinds of chances the best one was when Rasmus Sandin would step into a slap shot that would beat Gillies but go ringing off the post. Toronto would be unable to score on the two-man advantage despite many great chances, but they would head the first intermission smiling as they would lead 4-0.

The Leafs onslaught would continue in the second as they would continue to pepper Jon Gillies with shots because New Jersey’s weak defensive play was unable to clear the zone. Turnovers were an issue for the Leafs the other night at home but this time it would be the Devils that would be coughing up the puck constantly. Jack Hughes would see his clearing attempt hit the skate of David Kampf and stay in the zone. Michael Bunting and Mitch Marner would then work a give and go passing play that Bunting would finish off as his shot would beat Gillies and Toronto’s lead would grow to 5-0 thanks to Bunting’s 13^th goal of the season. Toronto would find themselves down two men midway through this period as Alex Kerfoot would be called for High Sticking and then seconds later TJ Brodie would serve a minor for cross checking. The Devils would have a great chance to break Campbell’s shut out bid but really their powerplay wasn’t much of a threat and at times Toronto would manage a few shorthanded chances. Toronto would manage to kill off the Devils powerplay and then head right back to work in the offensive zone. With less then five minutes remaining Toronto would light the lamp for a sixth time. Colton White would join the Devils long list of turnovers as he would lose the puck in the slot to Wayne Simmonds who would see Pierre Engvall open to his right, Pierre would beat Gillies on the glove side for his 7^th goal of the season and this would continue to be a long frustrating night for New Jersey.

 The Leafs would start the third period with a 6-0 lead and the game well in hand but would see Akira Schmid the starter from Monday night come in for the final twenty minutes. Early in the final frame it would be the Devils finally ending Jack Campbell’s attempt at a shutout as Yegor Sharangovich would send a cross ice pass to Jack Hughes who would fire a wrist shot passed the blocker of Campbell and in for his 12^th goal of the season and the New Jersey Devils are on the board 6-1. Just a few minutes later a turnover would sting the Devils again as Severson would lose the puck to Mitch Marner whose shot would beat Schmid above the blocker and Marner would score his second of the evening and his 14^th goal of the campaign. After this the officials decided to put the whistles away and just let time run out because there were many times where a penalty should have been called but everyone was told to play on or there were times the linesman would wave off an icing in order to help put the Devils out of their misery because regulation would finally expire and the Leafs would win this game 7-1 handing New Jersey their sixth consecutive regulation loss.

With all the concern over Jack Campbell had been playing in his recent starts his performance last night maybe put some of those concerns to rest because I thought Jack was much better. Je was great with his rebound control he seemed to play with a sense of confidence and seemed like the Jack Campbell we saw throughout November. The Leafs will now have a short week off as the All-Star break is upon us, Auston Matthews will captain the Atlantic Division in Las Vegas and joining him will be goalie Jack Campbell. I will be taking a little break along with the Leafs who return to action on February 7^th a Monday when they host the Carolina Hurricanes.

Anyone who knows me knows that of course I am a hockey fan, but I follow many other sports and Wednesday night is full of exciting action. First at 8pm the Beijing Olympics kick off as Canada plays Great Britain in Mixed Doubles Curling, then at 9pm Canada plays El Salvador in World Cup Qualifying and with Canada on the verge of playing in the World Cup for the first time since Mexico in 1986 I won’t be missing that game. Finally, the Women’s hockey tournament begins as Canada plays Switzerland. I won’t be doing full writeups for the men’s and women’s hockey games because with the time change and Leaf games to write about managing my time is going to be a challenge. With Leaf games and Olympic games happening likely on the same night coffee is going to be crucial.

Thanks as always for reading.