Toronto Maple Leafs: Can they build off dominant performance against Devils?

After dominating the New Jersey Devils for a second time this season, the Toronto Maple Leafs need to find a way to remain consistent.

Once again, the New Jersey Devils were on the wrong side of a dominant performance by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Coming into this game, there were many questions about the Leafs commitment and “effort level” after a disappointing stretch.

They made sure to erase any doubt in a 7-2 victory and it was clear from the beginning that Toronto wasn’t going to let the foot off the gas pedal. An obvious sign of relief was seeing the team score three goals in the first period after struggling to get things going in the opening frame.

A question many will be asking is whether the Leafs can build off this performance even though it was against a struggling Devils team. The Leafs were finally rewarded for their dominant play at even strength and made it a point to drive the play down the middle rather than force shots from the outside as the heat map from Natural Stattrick shows.

Nazem Kadri had a big game with three assists and more importantly, every single one was a primary assist. Connor Brown also had three helpers as Auston Matthews got back to scoring and John Tavares continued to add to his team lead in goals with his 21st. Tyler Ennis also scored twice in the third period showing off his ability to produce despite getting fourth line minutes.

There was no shortage of highlights in this game especially from Morgan Rielly who probably had the nicest goal of the evening and it came with less than a second left in the second period.

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The Leafs will play their next game at home against the Florida Panthers as they look to get some revenge after Aleksander Barkov scored a hat trick last Saturday.

Florida is coming off two strong performances against top teams in the Eastern Conference beating the Buffalo Sabres 5-2.

For the Panthers and Leafs, this game will go a long way in adding momentum as one tries to get back atop the Atlantic Division while the other tries to get out of the basement.

The Leafs will need to continue to be relentless on the forecheck against the Panthers and hope that they can get more chances in the slot rather than being forced to the outside.

What did you think about the Leafs performance against the Devils? Is there a reason to believe they can build off of it? Let us know in the comments below.