The New Jersey Devils secured their fifth consecutive win by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night. The victory also marked head coach Sheldon Keefe’s first win against his former team.
“I have a lot of people in the building, this is a special place for me. It always will be,” Keefe said. “It feels a lot better coming out on the winning side.”
Jack Hughes was the standout performer, recording his third career hat trick. He received support from teammates Cody Glass and Brenden Dillon. After conceding the opening goal, the Devils responded with four goals in the second period, establishing a 4-1 lead.
The Devils have now matched their five-game winning streak from January 2023. Their last six-game winning streak was during a 13-game run in the fall of 2022.
“It’s crazy that it’s been two years. We know we have a good team here. It’s fun when you can string together a really good winning streak,” Hughes said. “That’s something we want to do, not just now but throughout the year. Five is a real good start for us.”
Toronto’s goals came from John Tavares and Matias Maccelli.
The Devils’ first goal was set up by sustained offensive zone pressure and quick passing, allowing Hughes space to score. Ondrej Palat’s presence in front of the net was also key, as he screened Toronto’s goalie Anthony Stolarz and contributed to the goal standing after a goalie interference challenge.
Hughes noted Palat’s impact: “He doesn’t get a point on that but that puck is not going in the net if he’s not there. He does a lot of things for me and Bratt away from the puck and the hard-nosed things that make us successful as a line. A lot of credit goes to him.”
Cody Glass scored his second goal of the season on a power play, capitalizing on a rebound after Timo Meier’s shot. Glass credited teammate Brent Overkamp for helping him return to play quickly after breaking his stick.
Glass said: “It starts with Brent (Overkamp) got me my stick in time after my stick broke. That got me back into the play and then right place, right time. I was able to bury.”
Hughes’ second goal resulted from a quick transition during a Maple Leafs line change, with Jesper Bratt providing the assist.
Keefe commented: “They’ve been real aggressive off the rush with their D being active and involved. We had to be very conscious of that. They’ve been doing a really good job of utilizing their D there. We did feel that if we could do a good job against that there would be great opportunities in transition. That was the case.”
Rookie Arseny Gritsyuk earned his fourth assist of the season by intercepting a pass and starting a rush that led to Dillon’s goal.
Dillon stated: “I thought we did a great job defensively, closing, turning the puck over in our zone to be able to get that opportunity.”
The Devils’ penalty kill unit continued its strong performance, successfully defending against early and late power plays by Toronto and improving their season rate to 21 for 22 (95.5%).
Dillon added: “We’ve come up against some tough teams here. For our group the timing of these penalties isn’t always ideal, Four minutes left and we have to kill one. We’ve got some confidence in it right now. It’s not going to be perfect every game. But against a dangerous power play like we had tonight, I thought we did a great job.”
The Devils will next face the Minnesota Wild at home as part of back-to-back games.
