Maple Leafs 5, Devils 2: Three more

The Devils were clearly outclassed against a much better team on Tuesday night.

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A few observations from New Jersey vs. Toronto:

Jesper Bratt continues to shine

We’ll start with the positives since there weren’t a whole lot. I thought Jesper Bratt was once again very dangerous offensively and the team’s best player with the puck on his stick.

There were a couple of instances where he took on two, three, or even four Maple Leafs and was able to jitterbug his way through traffic while carrying the puck to a better spot than he found it.

His passing was excellent as always. He made a spinning pass from behind the net to an activating Brendan Smith for one of the team’s best chances. He also put the puck on a platter for Shane Bowers for another great opportunity.

Nothing came of those two Grade A looks he created, which I suppose is to be expected given it was a depth defenseman and a career AHL forward on the receiving end of them.

Bratt assisted on four shots at 5v5 – good for sole possession of the team lead – and also finished tied with *checks notes* Smith with three scoring chances in that game state.

All in all, he directly contributed to at least five quality chances. That’s pretty good considering it felt like the Devils had fewer than 10 throughout the night.

I would love to see Bratt a) clear 80 points and; b) record another couple of primary 5v5 assists over the final few games of the season.

He is just two back of Nikita Kucherov for 2nd place in the NHL. Wouldn’t it be something if only Connor McDavid picked up more primaries at 5v5? I think that’d be an awesome feather in his cap.

Holtz didn’t do himself any favors