Post Game Thread: Toronto Maple Leafs at New Jersey Devils – 10 Dec 2024

40 comments

1. The Devils have a worse record at home than the two last place teams in the Eastern Conference. Fans have now resorted to just praising the effort because the expectations at home are so bad that the “baby steps” of just showing up for a change is surprising.

   Apparently though it isn’t bad to have the lowest standards imaginable for your title contending team. At some point, the expectations have to meet the expectations for a title contending team instead of a team who isn’t close to a title window.

2. The goaltending as a whole is an improvement on years past but no where near great or even consistent. It’s frustrating, but i won’t speak to that because it’s not something that will be (or needs to be) addressed yet.

   Fitz needs to make a move for depth. Lots of us have said it… it’s past time. Cotter is cold, and it seems like if he goes cold our bottom six falls apart. We need to pull a tampa bay and make our coleman/goodrow/hagel trade(s). I don’t know and don’t care how he approaches it, if its trading for actual depth pieces or if it’s trading for top liners and bumping down mercer or palat to a role they are actually suited for, just do it. Sooner rather than later, we don’t have to wait until the trade deadline. This team has potential, do your part to fill in the missing pieces and let them figure it out.

3. This was a super frustrating loss, but at the end of the day, the Devils played a really solid 60+ minutes.

   The shorthanded goal wasn’t the best look for Markstrom, but he also made some big saves. Kevin Weekes pointed it out; it’s harder for a goalie to stay sharp when you only face 15-20 shots, and a majority of those shots are scoring chances.

   My one take as armchair coach, putting Pesce out there may not be the best decision for 3-on-3, at least against a speedy team like the Leafs.

   Finally, I don’t know what you people were smoking about the ESPN crew ‘glazing’ the Leafs. The commentators were saying Nico should get a Selke this year and were complimenting the Devils all throughout the broadcast. Sure they weren’t Bill Dano and Sal, but Bob is easily ESPN’s best play-by-play, and Weekes and Ocal were both good tonight.

4. We played a fantastic game! I really don’t have any complaints! Shit happens, ya get goalied.

   But OUR FANS are fucking awful. Quiet in the building. Boos when we were up. Horrible, reactionary takes everywhere.

   At this point, I don’t think there’s a more reactionary group of people than devils fans. It’s legitimately off putting. You’re pushing out potential fans left and right. I’ve legit had to beg my sister to not jump ship to philly. She legit HATED the atmosphere at the rock.

   We are not welcoming. And that’s gross.

5. Only issue i had was the power play. We havr been garbage on powerplay the last couple games with our pp line being praised

6. In other news the rangers are no longer in a playoff spot.

7. This sub has lost its mind lol.

8. Imagine paying to take your kid to a game. A girl or boy who loves playing defense. Hoping they could learn something from an NHL pro about hard work and not giving up.

   Only to witness Hamilton, the only “defenseman” out on the power play let a guy flip a puck over him without throwing a hit. Watch said guy pass him. puck watch while a forward hustles back to cover defense. All while coasting as a second guy on the other team hustles past him to score a goal on a shot that never needed to occur.

9. About to be an obnoxious 48 hours from a specific fanbase, so just get used to it

10. I really hate the fucking leafs, their fans, their media. I also hate how they ended another streak of ours like they did the win streak 2 seasons ago, they ended the undefeated streak going into the third. 

11. If I had a dollar for everytime someone in this sub said ” well oh well they just got goalied” id be sitting pretty right now. Enough with that bullshit.

12. That scumbag Pacioretty cheap shots Jack, nobody takes the bait with everyone doing the right thing in staying disciplined & not going after him, Marner, Matthews or Nylander and yet we end up f’kng losing. That sucks

13. I’m tired of playing against goalies who have some increased interest in winning against/in NJ

14. Real tired of Markstrom.

15. Anybody know how to get in touch with Scott Boras? I think he should take a look at Hamilton. Another single tool play who gets way overpaid.

16. i’m sure some analytics bot will come and tell you that we dominated in shots and “deserved to win”, but i’m here to assure you that’s not true. We faced a team that has always had a headstart on us talentwise but this is the first time i’ve seen them bite down hard and grit out a low scoring game. Were they the beneficiaries of very typical ref game riggi–errr management? absolutely. but hamilton also was very typically slow and gave us no chance on the first goal. Despite their struggles Toronto looked in stark contrast to the way we closed out the avalanche game – repeatedly just a hair off with passes and shots, unlucky for much of the game, but never let it get away from them, kept the devils shots rushed and a little intimidated, always kept driving harder. after their goal you could hear Berube scream when willy went for a cherry pick, GET YOUR FUCKING ASS ON SIDES – they’re hoppin now, even though they came out slow.

    That’s not to say it was all bad, for most of the night the defense was excellent and interrupted a ton of plays from one of the best offenses around (shoutout to Kovacevic, who ate a bevy of cheapshots tonight without retaliating). But we lost because they out-gritted us. Not every team is built “that way”, but when two teams with a similar mindset meet, it’s often the grittier performance that someone succeeds.

    All in all I’m relieved we got the point with all those shitty shots we took. But the Leafs – especially Marner & to a lesser extent Matthews and Knies – moved way up in my estimation this year.

17. This game really made me angry. The biggest thing that bothered me was that nobody went after the jerkoff that tried to take Jack’s head off. Another was giving up the short-handed goal.They played a great game otherwise.

18. Can someone, anyone ask Keefe every single night why this team plays so bad at the Rock? Ask the question every single night.

    The players have changed the system has changed multiple times but the results seem to remain.

19. Half this sub has u/facebookdevilsfans opinions, unironically. Chill the fuck out

20. Alright I’m less pissed off now.

    We played well. Stolarz played better than Markstrom. Better goalie won tbh. Markstrom had a tough game.

    But Markstrom had some tough games before. Late October, he let in 11 goals in two games against Detroit and the Caps. Then his next two games were 2 goals let up against Anaheim and he pitched a shutout against Vancouver.

    It happens. He’s a 34 year old pro. He’s older but he’ll bounce back.

    The biggest black eye tonight was Dougie. He continues to play lazy and uninspired hockey.

    We got a loser point. We threw up 40 on a tough goaltender and couldn’t close the deal. I get the frustration but we can’t win them all. Toronto is still a very talented team.

21. Some of these takes.. if this is the crap that’s being spewed at games no wonder they play shitty at home.

22. 4.5 expected goals, bury some boys. Marky… just give your head a shake and see you next game.

23. God some of you are 10 ply soft. Fans have every right to be pissed off about this loss tonight. Some of you literally can’t handle people being unhappy after a loss, especially another home loss, and one just after being shutout at home for the 4th time on the year. (5th all together).

    This loss sucks. They dominated, but the goalie they traded a first for shit the bed and it’s another home loss at the rock where their record is 6-6-3, that’s pathetic for a team with playoff aspirations and more. 

24. Markstrom was remarkably bad on both goals. Hot take, I know. He could have come out on that breakaway and wiped them all out.

25. Would not have surprised me at all if we got shutout tonight. When you have 39 shots on goal but only about 5 of them are threatening, this is the result.

26. Biggest challenge was the lack of push back after two guys were steam rolled. No response at all, just shock.

27. Man, if people are this upset about us not winning at home, I can’t wait to see what the reactions will be if we dare win the Cup on the road at the end of this season.

    (It’s a joke guys. Try to relax.)

28. Devils dominated a game against a top team in the league. Their offense is going through a bit of a dry spell, goals will come with more efforts like tonight

29. What makes me laugh the hardest about the reactions is that if they won in OT people would literally be talking about a different team.

    But I get it. I was fuming mad too. Just know the new jersey devils are mad. They arent just going home and forgetting they have a shitty home record and some concerning dry spells. They want to fix that shit. And they aren’t a shitty team, they showed that tonight and had a really annoying result. There b days like this.

30. You look at some of the comments in here and suddenly it makes perfect sense why the home record isn’t great.

    Anyway having sitting on it we need to do something about the offense. The scoring is too reliant on the PP, Jack and Bratt lately. I remember early in the season when our bottom 6 was grinding out goals. It’s completely gone now outside of Noesen who’s been in the top 6 the last several games. Timo needs to do better as our highest paid forward. Defense needs to contribute a bit more on scoring. And we need a legit top 6 guy for Jack and Bratt. Palat isn’t that guy. But with the little cap we have this season that’s probably gonna be something for next season.

    Anyway, frustratingly tough loss. We got a point out of it at least but definitely felt like we should’ve gotten 2. On to the next.

31. Lol Devils aren’t playing good Hockey at home because of reddit comments. How could you guys do this?

    🤨

32. They don’t hate to lose. If we ain’t winning, gloves should be dropping. Especially after that hit on Hughes. We’ve got to set the tone.

33. Why does every goalie with a connection to NJ turn into prime Marty Brodeur against us?

34. We played the wheels off Toronto, got goalied, and Markstrom let up 1 softie (can’t blame him on the 2nd tbh). Why so much doom & gloom. I’d understand if they played like trash tonight. They outplayed a really good team.

35. I got stuck sitting next to a real life doomer at the game tonight. Worst hockey experience ever. He just made enjoy around him miserable. Complained the whole time. Threw a tantrum anytime luke hughes did anything. Idk how anyone can live like that.

36. You CAN’T let that 1st goal in. You just can’t.

    But Markstrom wasn’t THE problem tonight. A problem for sure but not THE problem. This amount of talent and you only score 1 goal through nearly 7 periods. On. Home. Ice.

    We need a no-nonsense curmudgeon as a coach or GM to the younger guys. Keep them in check instead of allowing them to chase girls.

37. Streaking time

38. In 5v5 the Devils are 2nd best in xG (67) but just 10th best in actual goals scored (57) (per Money Puck). A ten goal deficit.

    And this has not been updated for tonight’s game, so the gap is really a deficit of 13 goals.

    Too big a gap to be a fluke. Explains the high number of shutouts, the loss tonight (just 1 goal in 38 SOGs and 17 HDSC), etc.

    All I got is that they perhaps need to lift the puck more on the SOGs from close range. Seems like way too many are shot at pad level and end as easy pad saves. Lift the puck above the pads.

39. Markstrom wasn’t THE reason they lost, you can’t shoot at the net 30+ times and only come out with a goal. “Yeah just shut them out for a w” Overall this was a hell of a game for us with a stinger of a result

40. I’m more pissed about the teams response to Jack getting leveled. Devils had more shots, but the quality of shots for both teams was even, at least to me it felt that way since they shot into the leafs logo every high danger chance. And again, they gave Matthews too many chances and got lucky he missed the net a bunch.