Devils 3, Maple Leafs 2: The streak lives on

New Jersey largely suffocated Toronto's offense en route to their 11th(!) consecutive win.

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A few observations following New Jersey’s 11th consecutive win:

Team defense was excellent

That was one of the more impressive defensive showings I’ve seen from the Devils all season.

While Toronto lacks forward depth – I talked about that issue in the preview – they roster four stars up front in Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander. All of those guys are point per game players who can flip a game on its head on a moment’s notice.

The Devils did a great job of completely neutralizing those players – and Toronto’s offense as a whole – at 5v5.

In that gamestate, Tavares led the group of four with 0.16 expected goals. That’s essentially one good opportunity.

From start to finish I thought the Devils were excellent at getting on top of puck carriers and suffocating Toronto’s attack before it could ever get going. Forget making plays in their defensive zone; the Devils were killing plays high up ice.

It reminded me a lot of how Liverpool, when healthy and firing on all cylinders, plays under Jurgen Klopp. The Devils didn’t sit back and welcome pressure, hoping they could make a play at the final moment to prevent a chance.

They pressed, pressed, and pressed and made completing even a pass or two to get out of the defensive zone a big challenge for the Maple Leafs.

I think that’s how you have to play; especially against a team like Toronto. They have guys who can beat you 1v1 or score from range. The best way to stop them is to never give them a chance to do that.

If you are late pressuring, or allow multiple quick passes, you can get into trouble…but the Devils didn’t do that. They had F1 on top of the puck carrier immediately and another forward (or two) pressuring the outlet to take away all options.

They forced Toronto to turn so many pucks over, which is no small feat given the way they like to play (possession is everything).

All told, the Devils conceded 1.3 expected goals in more than 47 minutes of 5v5 play. That equates to 1.65 over a full 60 minutes.

For perspective, the Arizona Coyotes rank dead last in the NHL generating 1.82 expected goals per 60.

Hats off to the Devils for a truly stifling effort. That they can go on the road, against a very good team, and still put together that sort of taxing performance – while having a 10-game win streak to fall back on – is extremely impressive.

Nico is flexing