TORONTO – Yegor Sharangovich scored 57 seconds into overtime and Vitek Vanecek made 25 saves as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Thursday for their 11th straight victory.
Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt had the other goals for New Jersey (14-3-0).
Sharangovich buried his fourth goal of the season on a rebound after Jack Hughes stole the puck with the teams playing 3-on-3 in the extra period and took the initial shot on Leafs netminder Matt Murray.
The Devils won an 11th game in a row for the third time in franchise history. The Florida Panthers had last season’s longest winning run at 13 contests.
New Jersey also snapped an eight-game losing streak against Toronto dating back to April 2018, and won at Scotiabank Arena for the first time since October 2017.
Auston Matthews, with a goal and an assist, and William Nylander replied for Toronto (9-5-4), which got 30 stops from Murray. Mitch Marner added an assist to push his point streak to 11 games, the longest active run in the NHL.
Down 2-1 with Murray on the bench for an extra attacker, Nylander tied it with his eighth on a shot that hit Devils defenceman Jonas Siegenathaler with 2:09 left in regulation.
Hischier snapped a 1-1 tie at 3:02 of the second period on a 2-on-1 when he ripped his ninth upstairs on Murray.
Making his first home start for Toronto after suffering a groin/abductor injury in mid-October, the Leafs netminder kept the deficit at one with under three minutes to go before the intermission when he robbed Jack Hughes.
The Leafs went to their fifth power play with just over five minutes left in the third, but Vanecek robbed Matthews on a one-time chance before Nylander equalized late.
Matthews opened the scoring on the man advantage at 15:15 of the first thanks to some poor coverage in front of Vanecek.
But the Devils responded just 24 seconds later following some equally suspect defensive structure that left Bratt alone in front of Murray to roof his seventh.
MATTHEWS DISAPPOINTED BY WORLD CUP DELAY
Matthews was asked Thursday morning about the NHL’s decision to push the proposed World Cup — envisioned for February 2024 — back a year because of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Tough thing to follow,” said last season’s 60-goal man. ‘Seems like it’s always changing.”
The game’s stars haven’t been involved in a true best-on-best event since the 2014 Olympics. The league skipped the 2018 Games before the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to back out of the 2022 tournament.
“Everybody would love to see that from a player perspective and from a fan perspective,” the Arizona-raised Matthews said. “Some of the best hockey you’ll see. Hopefully it gets figured out.”
The last World Cup was played in 2016, but included the gimmicky Team North America — which included young talent like Matthews — and Team Europe consisting of the continent’s smaller hockey powers.
So, would he be interested in a Canada-U. S. rivalry series like the one played by the women’s teams?
“Yeah, I’m easy,” Matthews. “Doesn’t matter to me.”
NICO FOR SELKE?
Devils head coach Lindy Ruff said before the game he sees Hischier as a future Selke Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defensive forward — perhaps sooner than later.
“He’s a power-play guy, he’s one of our top penalty killers,” Ruff said of New Jersey’s captain. “You look at where he is with his play away from the puck, I actually think he should be a candidate this year.
“If he can stay healthy his two-way game is right up there with the likes of (five-time Selke winner Patrice) Bergeron.”
UP NEXT
Leafs: Host Buffalo on Saturday.
Devils: Visit Ottawa on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2022.
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