Photo: Andrew MacLean
Jack Hughes delivered a superstar performance in a hostile building tonight, scoring his third career hat trick as the surging New Jersey Devils defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 at Scotiabank Arena. The Maple Leafs held a 1-0 lead after the first, but Hughes spearheaded a dominant second-period charge, netting his first two goals as the Devils scored three times in less than four minutes to seize control. The Devils ultimately secured their fifth straight victory, while the convincing loss marks the second in a row for the slumping Maple Leafs, who struggled to contain the blistering offense of the league’s hottest team.
New Jersey Devils Lineup:
Palat - Hughes - Bratt
Meier - Hischier - Mercer
Gritsyuk - Glass - Brown
Cotter - Glendening - Halonen
Hughes - Pesce
Siegenthaler - Hamilton
Dillon - Nemec
Allen
Daws
Toronto Maple Leafs Lineup:
Knies - Matthews - Domi
Maccelli - Tavares - Nylander
Joshua - Roy - McMann
Robertson - Lorentz - Jarnkrok
Rielly - Carlo
McCabe - Tanev
Benoit - Ekman-Larsson
Stolarz
Primeau
Scoring the first goal of the game at 13:24 of the opening frame, John Tavares opened the scoring for Toronto, putting them ahead 1-0 after he swatted in a rebound of a point shot by Oliver Ekman-Larsson out of the air at the top of the goal crease. Ekman-Larsson, who was along the right wall, took a pass from Morgan Rielly, who was along the left wall, before sending it to William Nylander, who sent it right back for Ekman-Larsson to fire, and Tavares swatted it in past Jake Allen.
Jack Hughes struck to tie it up 1-1 early into the second period at 18:33 when he took a pass from Jesper Bratt, shooting past Anthony Stolarz's glove from the slot, Ondrej Palat at the top of the crease screening. The goal was challenged by the Maple Leafs for goaltender interference, but the challenge was unsuccessful. With just seconds left on the power play, Cody Glass gave New Jersey its first lead of the night, 2-1, when he fired from just below the right hash marks after a shot by Timo Meier was blocked and Glass shook off Jake McCabe. Brenden Dillon gave the Devils a 3-1 lead on his first goal of the season, scoring from the high slot on a 4-on-1 after taking a pass from Luke Glendening. On a 2-on-1 with Nylander, Matias Maccelli cut it to 3-2 off a pass from Nylander, scoring into an open net from the left after Allen slid out of position at 12:57 of the middle frame. Hughes found the back of the net for the second time of the night, later in the second, with 3:43 on the clock after the Devils cleared the puck from their zone, Hughes getting a hold of the puck and drove up towards Stolarz, scoring on a slap shot from the left face-off circle to the short side to stretch the lead to 4-2.
After what was thought to be a scoreless third frame, with just 30 seconds left to play and an empty Toronto net, Hughes struck the empty net for a hat trick and for the 5-2 final.
Jack Hughes on his second goal, Palat on the line, the win streak, Sheldon Keefe, and playing center: "I think that D was closing in on me, so it was more of a shot than a deke, and then yeah, just going through my thoughts. ...He doesn't get a point on that, but that puck's not going in the net if he's not there. He does a lot of things for me and Bratter away from the puck, and you know, the hard-nosed that really makes us successful as a line. A lot of credit goes to him for sure." - "We know we got a good team here, but it's fun when you can string together a really good winning streak. That's something we want to do, not just now, but throughout the year. Five is a good start for us. ...We know what he expects out of us. Just more familiarity and that's the biggest thing... You can expect something out of him, and he can expect something out of us. ...I'm not worried about that. We're six games in here. I'm just trying to enjoy playing hockey."
Notes:
- Jack Hughes has six goals during a three-game goal streak. ...Hughes, after scoring his second of the night, climbed a franchise list for most multi-goal games, in fifth place with 27.
- Jesper Bratt had a three-point night, collecting three assists. ...Bratt increased his season-opening point streak to six games with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) and his assist streak to four games (six assists).
- Jake Allen made a total of 23 saves for New Jersey, and Anthony Stolarz made a total of 30 saves for Toronto.
- John Tavares picked up both a goal and an assist, and William Nylander picked up a pair of assists. ...Tavares scored his No. 498 career goal and is two from becoming the 49th NHL player to get to 500. ...Nylander extended his point streak to four games with nine points (one goal, eight assists).
- Early in the second period at 18:07, Chris Tanev left the game with an upper-body injury after he took a hit to the head in an inadvertent collision with Dawson Mercer. ...He may miss some time, according to Berube.
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