Even more important, Double T's (6-5) winning goal at 2:35 of overtime. Or what The Maven calls a "Come-Back-Er-Oony" against the Vegas Stanley Cup champs.
It doesn't matter how you win it, for the New Jersey Devils, what counts are the two points.
Although last night at The Rock, what REALLY mattered was Tyler Toffoli's three-goal hat trick.
And, even more important, Double T's (6-5) winning goal at 2:35 of overtime. Or what The Maven calls a "Come-Back-Er-Oony" against the Vegas Stanley Cup champs.
"Every guy in our dressing room should feel good about this one," said coach Lindy Ruff. "Good because of the way we came back to tie it in the third period. And good because we won it in overtime."
Down 5-3 late in the middle frame, Ruff's skaters got a biggie from Toffoli with 16 seconds left -- now only 5-4 -- so that Curtis Lazar could tie it with his second red light at 9:14 of the third period.
Ruff: "That goal at the end of the period was a big momentum goal for us. It probably was the biggest goal of the game."
Sorry, Skipper, but The Maven disagrees; the game-winner was the biggest. But, get this, Ruff deserved an assist on it, and I'll let Lindy tell you why:
"I said to 'Toff' before I put him out in overtime, 'Go out and finish this thing.' And he did. So that proves that he's a good listener." (And the coach is a terrific talker.)
As for Toffoli, his 20th goal of the season has to be his biggest so far if -- for no other reason -- you consider the madcap playoff race.
"We needed to bounce back," Tyler explained. "We had let the game slip away a little in the second period, but we stayed with it, dug deep, and found a way."
Worth noting in that regard, the Devil's comeback to win was the 16th time they've done it this year, tops in the National Hockey League. (Comeback-ability is so important.)
The big "Thank You" starts with Luke Hughes who intercepted the puck in the neutral and then was making like a hurricane down the ice until he found TT with the picturesque pass.
And let's not forget Curtis Lazar's pair of goals. We're talking about a guy who -- at the start of the season -- was listed as the club's bottom-fourth center. Kudos, too, to rookie D-man Simon Nemec, who collected two assists.
This was not by any means a goalie's paradise, but when all was said and done, New Jersey's Vitek Vanecek was alive and kicking at the end with a total of 27 saves.
If nothing else -- and there are some things else -- the game-winner was an
architectural creation of serious rookie-of-the-year candidate Luke Hughes. And I want to get back to him to stress to your fans what a prize we had in this gentle fellow.
So, for my own satisfaction, I shall repeat.
Otherwise known as Jack Hughes' kid brother, Larrupin' Luke created the winner by tearing down the left wing on a two-on-one with Toffoli on the other side.
The Hughes lad waited just long enough -- until his radar located Double T. The pass was as perfect as Tyler's shot, and that did it for the home squad, now 24-18-3 in the thick of a huge playoff race.
As every Devils fan from Hoboken to Ho-Ho-Kus knows, this playoff battle was not the way it was supposed to be The way it was supposed to be was this: Picked to finish second overall in the Met Division, the Garden Staters were supposed to be at or at least near the top.
Perhaps they thought the press clippings alone would do the trick; perhaps they had been too sure of themselves, and perhaps they had felt the loss of veteran defenseman Damon Severson.
Whatever: The point is that the Rock-Climbers now need every point they can get, and if it ain't textbook pretty, let it be energized and exciting.
Speaking of which disappointed losing coach Bruce Cassidy had this very precious wrapup comment: "We basically played a Beer League game."
The difference is that you don't get two points in a Beer League game.
New Jersey got two in an NHL game and are loving it!