In many ways, the New Jersey Devils are a reminder of what the Toronto Maple Leafs were like in the first few seasons with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. But they never had a streak like this.
Following the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe was asked about his thoughts on how his team played.
“I thought the difference was that we beat ourselves and gave them free goals,” he said before acknowledging the opposing team’s accomplishment. “They didn’t beat themselves at all and that’s how you win 11 in a row. You don’t beat yourself.”
Rarely, if at all, will Keefe acknowledge the others team’s accomplishment. But what the Devils managed to pull off so early in the season is nothing short of remarkable.
New Jersey was the second-worst team in the Metropolitan Division last season at 27-46-9, but they continue to be the hottest and most surprising story in the NHL.
Their winning streak is a sign of sheer dominance in the NHL. The Devils aren’t just winning games consecutively, they’re dominating.
Toronto’s 32 per cent expected-goals share in the game on Thursday was their worst of the season. Over the last few seasons, the Maple Leafs have been among the leaders in the possession category.
On the flip side, New Jersey’s 68 per cent share in the game was their eighth-best game.
Despite the numbers, the Maple Leafs managed to come up with a point. But mistakes on all three goals against led to a win for New Jersey.
Winning 11 consecutive games is something the Toronto Maple Leafs have never been able to do in the 105–year history of the team. Their record is 10, set back in October of 1993.
The Leafs’ home winning streak record is 13 games and that was set between Jan. 31 - Mar. 24, 2018. It occurred in Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner’s sophomore seasons with the Leafs.
It’s that 2017-18 Maple Leafs’ season that is eerily reminiscent of these New Jersey Devils. Their core players are hitting their stride and they are all doing it at the same time.
Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes are hitting their peak. Dougie Hamilton’s game has reached a stable point after much moving around.
Against the Leafs, the aforementioned players were aggressive on the forecheck. They hounded pucks and were relentless in doing so all game long.
When they didn’t have the puck, they defended and disrupted Toronto’s flow.
The reason this game was close was due to Maple Leafs’ goaltender Matt Murray, who made several difficult saves on the Devils to keep the game within reach, including a sprawling save in the second period to just get his blocker across to get a piece of the puck.
“I was a bit late getting across so I just had to toss something over there and hope for the best,” Murray said.
Murray made his first home start over one month longer than initially planned. His scheduled start against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 15 was called off after the goaltender injured his adductor.
“I thought he was strong,” Keefe said of Murray. “He keeps them at two [goals] in regulation, he’s a big reason we get the point.”
Murray has a .929 save percentage in his two starts since his return.
Giveaways leading to turnovers continue to plague the Maple Leafs at times and it’s been the biggest challenge for the club in its search to find some consistency.
Keefe has amassed an impressive regular season record of 125-55-22 record as coach of the Maple Leafs. In his first three seasons as coach of Toronto, he established a season-high winning streak of six games.
This season, the Leafs have peaked at three, although it’s very early.
Eleven games. That’s the dream. And while Toronto isn’t close to it yet, you can tell Keefe really wanted to be that team to end Jersey’s streak.
“In addition to them being the No. 1 team in the NHL on offense, they’re a very good team defensively,” he said. “We just couldn’t generate anything, at 5-on-5, especially.”