Maple Leafs-Devils: Late Comeback Falls Short for Toronto

The New Jersey Devils have always been known as a defensive team, and when trailing them after two periods, a comeback is not easy to say the least.

The Maple Leafs found that out the hard way Sunday afternoon at "The Rock."

Despite a third period comeback attempt, the Maple Leafs could not best Martin Brodeur and the Devils and had their three game win streak snapped, dropping a tough 3-2 decision.  Leafs goaltender Andrew Raycroft allowed three goals on 32 shots, while Brodeur allowed two goals on 36 shots.

Travis Zajac opened the scoring for the Devils in the second period on a rebound Raycroft would have liked to have back.  He made a great kick save (his pads truly are his strong suit) but rather than steer the rebound to the corner, he let it flop out front right to the waiting Zajac.  Zajac walked around Hal Gill and threw it over a lying prone Raycroft.

The second Devils goal was the back breaker, as John Madden scored with 13 seconds left in the second period to make it 2-0.  He broke in on goal in a 2-on-1 situation, and Madden went to pass the puck cross ice it went off a diving Ian White's skates and between the five hole of the stunned Leafs goaltender.

Early in the third period, the Devils stretched what seemed to be an insurmountable lead when Madden struck for his second of the game at 3:54. Toronto stayed in the game, however, despite being on the road against a great defensive team.

One minute after Madden made it 3-0, Jiri Tlusty showed a great burst of speed and drove down the wing.  He threw the puck out front of the net, where a charging Darcy Tucker was going to the net.  The puck caromed off of Tucker's skate and went into the net.  The play was reviewed as Tucker was spun around by a Devils defender and Brodeur was claiming there was a kicking motion.  After review the goal was allowed, and it proved to be the boost the Leafs needed.

After the first goal, new life was breathed into the Leafs.  Despite playing the night before, Toronto dug deep in hopes of mounting a comeback.

Pavel Kubina made it 3-2 midway through the third.  Kubina pinched in to keep the play alive, circled the net and got a shot off. After Brodeur made the save, the puck took a friendly bounce back to the Leafs defenceman and he was able to quickly throw the puck into the back of the net, under the stick side arm of Marty Brodeur.

Throughout the last ten minutes of the contest, the Leafs pressed and provided a great forecheck and great pressure in the attacking zone, but were unable to put it past the future Hall Of Fame netminder. The Leafs held the advantage in shots 36-32.  The game was rather quick, aided by the fact that the first period seen only ten whistles, none of them stoppages for goals.  The official time of the game was 2:25

All in all it was a decent game by the Leafs, a game they simply started to kick into gear a little too late.  It's a well known fact that coming behind to beat Jersey in the third period too often doesn't happen often, but knowing Jersey had blown a third period in their last home game, the Leafs did a good job of giving a fragile team all they could handle until the final horn.  

The loss snaps Toronto's three game winning streak.  They finish out the week before hitting the All Star Break with a home and home against Washington.  The two game set kicks off Wednesday in Toronto before shifting to Washington on Thursday night, before the break.

The All Star Skills Competition and the Young Guns game will take place Saturday night, while the 56th NHL All Star Game will take place the next day, Sunday January 27th, at 6:00, live from Atlanta.

Toronto Defenceman Tomas Kaberle will represent the Maple Leafs in both the Skills Competition and the All Star Game.

 

Derek's Game Notes

--Raycroft, making his first start since being shelled in Los Angeles played good, but not great.  The first goal was tough, he made a solid save, but really needed to control the rebound better.  You could argue that Hal Gill needed to be tougher on Zajac in front of the net, but if the rebound is steered to the side of the rink, it's a non point.

--The Second goal was another tough one as well.  As Madden broke in on a 2-on-1 I thought Ian White made a pretty decent job of defending against the odd man rush.  However he didn't time his diving block well and the puck struck his skate blade and went through the legs of Raycroft.  Hard to fault anyone on this one really, although you could question why Hal Gill was pinching with less than 15 seconds left in the period.

--The third New Jersey goal was also a tough one for Razor.  He made a good save on a wrister from the point, but again the rebound popped out, bounced off of Madden's leg, who was in front of the net jockeying for position, and found its way into the back of the net.

--For all of his on ice struggles this season, one thing you can not take away from Jason Blake is the fact that he has been involved in every game.  You cannot say he isn't trying.  His feet are always moving, he goes to the net every shift.

--The Line of Tucker, Tlusty, and Wellwood was a pretty solid fourth line tonight.  Its tough to see guys who were suppose to be top six contributors (Wellwood and Tucker) on the fourth line, but I thought they did a solid job.

--I really liked all of the lines tonight.  They seemed to mesh well.  Along with the line mentioned above, Stajan, Blake, and Ponikarovsky seemed to have some jump to them, as did Sundin, Steen, and Antropov.  Also another great night from Devereaux, Moore, and Kilger.  It's becoming real apparent that Paul Maurice can count on these guys every night to set a forechecking tone for the club.

--Great, Great play by Pavel Kubina on the second Leafs goal.  He may not be justifying his $5 Million dollar price tag, but Pavel Kubina is playing much better this season than last, and has been a pretty solid blue liner for the Maple Leafs this season.

--It is very hard to see why Andy Wozniewski continues to get paraded out there.  I haven't seen any improvement since game one of the season, nor have I seen any reason why he should be the teams sixth defenceman.  I think you could get a better effort out of Wade Belak, who would also bring much more of a physical presence to the team as well.