The New Jersey Devils hope to end their slump when they take on the surging Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Devils have lost four, including a 4-3 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, New Jersey is now in seventh place in the East and only holds a two point lead on the eighth place Philadelphia Flyers; the ninth place Winnipeg Jets are just four points behind the Devils.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a huge 5-4 overtime win over the New York Islanders. The Leafs battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits but blew a 4-2 second period lead before Captain Dion Phanuef ended the game in overtime. However, the spotlight belonged to Nazem Kadri who scored his first NHL hat trick and did so with fireworks.
On the first goal, Kadri cut into the middle after tricking the Islander defense into moving in the opposite direction and the blasted it past Evgeni Nabokov. His second goal was a wrist shot that Nabokov would probably want back, but his third goal was pure skill. Kadri split three Islander defenders and then slid the shot past Nabokov while falling.
"I did the best I could and it felt great to help the team win," said Kadri after the victory. "That was a huge second point for us to get."
"There's no question he is a gifted player," Phaneuf said of the young center. "I'm happy for him and I'm happy for us because we stuck with our game plan and kept battling after the Islanders tied it. This was a big bounce-back game for us."
Prediction: New Jersey wins 5-2.
TV: MSG PLUS, SNET-O
Follow Live Score & Updates HERE.
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
