Oct. 11—Dennis Hildeby made 23 saves in his NHL debut against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night in Newark, N.J. He allowed three goals in the first quarter of play and helped the New Jersey Devils beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2.
The result spoiled the home debut for Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe, who has been the Maple Leafs’ coach for over four seasons.
After Joseph Wall was recalled to emergency duty due to lower-body stiffness, Hilderby allowed two goals in the final minutes of both the first and second periods, even though the Maple Leafs were ahead by three each time.
Hilderby saved a shot by Jack Hughes in his debut with about a minute remaining in the first half and denied Elie on a New Jersey power play with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining in the second half.
Steven Lorenz scored a goal and an assist in the opening game, helping the Maple Leafs score three goals in 6 minutes and 28 seconds. Max Pacioretty scored his first goal of the season for Toronto and Bobby McMahon also scored before Lorenz scored.
The Maple Leafs scored 48 times in a season-opening loss to Montreal on Wednesday, with John Tavares also scoring to help the Maple Leafs recover from a disappointing defeat.
Jesper Bratt scored a power-play goal and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils, who improved to 3-0-3 for the first time since starting the 2018-19 season 0-0. The Devils won their first two games, beating the Buffalo Sabres in Prague.
New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 18 shots.
Pacioretty scored the first goal in the 8th and 18th minutes of the game. Connor Timmons took a shot from Meyer and then Pacioretty took a shot from the right side which New Jersey’s Brenden Dillon tried to save.
The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead at 11:29 after a Jack Hughes error. McMahon regained possession and fired a shot past Markstrom from the top of the right circle.
Lorenz forced Hughes to give up, then grabbed a loose puck in the slot and backhanded the puck over Markstrom’s right shoulder and glove to make the score 3–0 with 5:14 remaining in the first half.
With 41 seconds remaining in the first half, New Jersey scored on Blatt’s field goal.
With 5:08 left in the second quarter, Tavares made a big play on Dawson Mercer and hit a wrist shot over Markstrom to make it 4-1.
Meyer completed the scoring at midfield with six seconds remaining.
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