Toronto Maple Leafs center John Tavares, left, and New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier battle for the puck during the first period at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Feb. 1, 2022.Tom Horak/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
The Maple Leafs rolled into the all-star break on Tuesday with a 7-1 thrashing of the down-on-their-luck Devils at the Prudential Center.
Toronto scored four times in the first 20 minutes against Jon Gillies, one of six goaltenders New Jersey has used during the 2021-22 campaign. Gillies was removed after allowing six goals on 28 shots. Then Akira Schmid came in and allowed another.
Throw a sweater on the statue of Martin Brodeur outside the arena in Newark and it might do better.
Mitch Marner extended his career-best goal streak to seven games when he made it 4-0 with 4:29 left in the first period. By then Jason Spezza, Auston Matthews and David Kampf had already found the back of the net and the crowd was booing the home team.
Marner scored twice and had two assists for four points on the night. He has eight goals and 16 points during his hot streak.
“He is very deceptive,” Matthews said of his linemate. “When he has the puck people sense he is going to pass it and then he catches the goalie and the defencemen clean.”
Matthews scored three times in a 6-4 victory over New Jersey on Monday and entered the night with hat tricks against the Devils in each of their past two games. He settled for just the one goal and one assist but was one of five Toronto players to register at least two points for the evening.
The victory was the fifth in a row for the Maple Leafs, who have suddenly generated a blizzard of goals. They have scored 20 in the last three contests alone, including 13 in back-to-back encounters with the Devils.
“We are happy with it,” Marner said. “We talked about going into the break with a great onset and I think we did that tonight.”
The loss was New Jersey’s sixth straight and ninth in 10. Its roster includes nine players who are 23 years old or younger and not quite ready for the rigours of the NHL. Jack Hughes scored the Devils’ goal early in the third period to ruin a shutout bid by Jack Campbell.
The latter was reinserted into the lineup after getting yanked in the first period 24 hours earlier. He was credited with 31 saves as he improved to 21-6-3 on the season.
On Monday he was pulled after giving up three goals on nine shots in a game where the Maple Leafs rallied with four unanswered goals. They had five in the third period in their preceding triumph on Saturday at Detroit.
Campbell had given up 24 goals in his last six starts and had struggled with an .853 save percentage during the stretch. Even though Petr Mrazek came off the bench to win on Monday, Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe opted to give Campbell an opportunity to turn things around.
“I am grateful coach put me back in and gave me a chance to move on,” Campbell said. “There were a few starts recently I didn’t like. It is a long season.
“This is a humbling game. You learn more all the time. When I found out I was playing today it felt like a playoff game. I was ready to go out there and play the best that I can.”
The Maple Leafs ease into the all-star break with a 29-10-3 record. They trail Florida and Tampa Bay in a close race in the Atlantic Division and Boston is closing fast.
Matthews will be the captain of the Atlantic squad at Saturday’s all-star game in Las Vegas and Campbell will be one of the goalies. The rest of the players may plan getaways to sunny destinations but there is not enough time for them to travel too far.
“I hope they rest, enjoy themselves and come back refreshed,” Keefe said.
Toronto does not play again until Feb. 7 when Frederik Andersen and the Carolina Hurricanes visit Scotiabank Arena. With new provincial COVID-19 regulations in place as of Feb. 1, a limited audience will be allowed.
After that, the club heads out on a road trip for rescheduled engagements with Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle.
Toronto went 8-2-1 in January and is 11-2-1 over its last 14. There are a lot of good things happening even if the defence has been shakier at times than one would want.
Matthews scored four times in two nights and has 29 overall, which is tied with Alexander Ovechkin for third in the league.
Spezza emerged from a dry spell with goals in each game against the Devils, and Michael Bunting scored again on Tuesday, his 13th of the campaign. Kampf’s goal was his first since Dec. 11. Pierre Engvall scored to put Toronto up 6-0 in the second period and now has three goals and four assists over the last seven games.
It is time now for everyone but Matthews and Campbell to take a breather. There are still 40 games remaining in the regular season. After that we will see how much everything that has been achieved to this point matters.
“You are always looking to take control of games,” Keefe said. “This was as good as it can get for us.”