2. Zacha ties game early in second, Wood pushes Devils in front late in frame, and Maroon assists on both goals. A victory against Toronto would clinch a post-season spot for the Devils, who turned up the intensity on the Buds in the middle period and again outshot the visitors - this time, by as 14-11 margin. And New Jersey tied the score at 7:55 of the period on centre Pavel Zacha's eighth goal of the season. Zacha roofed a shot over the right shoulder of Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen for the game-tying marker.
Nine minutes and seven seconds later, the Devils took their first lead of the game on winger Miles Wood's 18th goal of the year. Both Zacha's and Woods' goals were set up by winger Patrick Maroon, whom New Jersey acquired at the trade deadline, and who has eight assists and 10 points in 16 games since coming over from the Edmonton Oilers.
Andersen kept the Devils' lead at a single goal by stopping a couple of breakaways, including one by winger Taylor Hall late in the frame, and Toronto's deficit remained at one entering the third. With the post-season just around the corner, Andersen needs to be as focused and "in the zone" as possible, and the workload New Jersey gave him certainly put the veteran goalie in a place where he could hone his game.
3. New Jersey continues to dominate on shot counter, but Andersen stays strong to give Leafs a shot at tying contest late in third.New Jersey held the Leafs to four shots in the first 12-and-a-half minutes of the third period - although Toronto did have a couple of scrums in close to Kinkaid, who was sharp for his side all night long - and the Devils fired another 10 at Andersen in the first 14 minutes of the frame to bump their overall shot total to 38 with six minutes remaining in regulation. But Andersen got better for the Buds as the game unfolded, and his efforts allowed the Leafs to stay within game-tying range in the final quarter of the period.
4. Toronto pulls Andersen for extra attacker, but Kinkaid continues strong play, preserves win for Devils.Leafs head coach Mike Babcock pulled Andersen with 2:40 left to get the extra attacker on the ice. But the Devils' defence did a good job of collapsing around Kinkaid to minimize the number of second-chance opportunities, and with 30.9 seconds, winger Mitch Marner was called for tripping, negating the 6-on-5 situation for Toronto and forcing Andersen back between the pipes for the rest of the period.
The Leafs were unable to come up with a goal that would've sent the game to extra time, and their record fell to 48-26-7 on the season.
5. Leafs fail to put together two-game win streak entering final regular-season game, turn attention to Game No. 82 Saturday to finish year on positive note. Toronto ultimately lost Thursday's showdown in the middle period, when New Jersey struck for all their offence and leaned on Kinkaid's stellar play the rest of the way. But this game had playoff intensity, playoff-type minimization of time and space, and playoff-style performances by both goaltenders. In other words, it was a great example of what the Leafs will be dealing with once the rest of the regular season schedule plays out and Toronto learns whether they'll be playing the Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.
The Buds will have their hands full regardless of their first playoff opponent this spring, and both the Bruins and Bolts have tremendous goaltending, speedy lineups and deep squads that can hurt you on any of their lines and defensive pairings. To get by either of them and move onto the second round, the Leafs will need to play a similar game to the one they played Thursday, and do a better job of (a) opening up space around their opponents' net, and (b) slowing things down when the opposition attempts a fast, end-to-end rush game to try and battle back. They couldn't do much to stop New Jersey's push-back in the second, and that was the difference on this occasion. But they'll have Saturday night's home tilt against Montreal to iron out some of their issues before the truly meaningful games kick off next week.
