Sheldon Keefe spent the past four-plus seasons coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs in an attempt to lead the team to its first Stanley Cup title since 1967.
Shortly after Toronto fell in the first round of the playoffs last spring, he was unemployed. About three weeks later, the New Jersey Devils hired him in hopes that he could help them rebound from a frustrating season.
So far, Keefe is off to a good start with his new team. The Devils will try to make it three straight victories Thursday night when they host the Maple Leafs in their first game on home ice in Newark, N.J.
Keefe posted a 212-97-40 record with Toronto after taking over for Mike Babcock 24 games into the 2019-20 season. The Maple Leafs only advanced past the first round in 2022-23, and Keefe was fired shortly after the team’s Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins in May.
“I don’t even know,” Keefe said on Toronto’s The FAN Hockey Show Tuesday in an attempt to downplay facing the Maple Leafs. “The Leafs are coming in, and it’s a great chance. Let’s get right at it here.”
The Devils are seeking their first 3-0-0 start since winning their first four games of the 2018-19 season and are coming off a pair of solid performances against the Buffalo Sabres last weekend in Prague. New Jersey trailed for about four minutes during the second period of Saturday’s 3-1 win when it was the home team, and received a goal in both games from new addition Paul Cotter while goalies Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen combined to make 47 saves.
“We all know, to get that win would be huge,” New Jersey captain Nico Hischier said about Keefe facing the Maple Leafs for the first time. “Everybody has this little extra motivation in themselves, for sure, home opener, we know he was coaching that team for a while so, we definitely should be pumped up for that game.”
Toronto heads into the encounter against its former coach after a frustrating 1-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night. The game was the Leafs’ first under new coach Craig Berube.
The Maple Leafs were unable to get the win despite taking 48 shots on goal against goalie Sam Montembeault. The trio of new captain Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Taveres combined for 16 shots on goal in a game in which the Maple Leafs had 25 shots blocked by the Canadiens.
“We did enough to score and put ourselves in a better position, but the puck didn’t go in,” Matthews said. “There were a lot of good things we can take away from the game. It’s Game 1. You’d like to get off to a miraculous start and win the first game, but there were things we can build on.”
Besides the inability to score, the Maple Leafs are dealing with some uncertainty in goal.
Joseph Woll was unable to start due to a lower-body injury after complaining of tightness in practice on Tuesday. Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves, and Dennis Hildeby could make his NHL debut Thursday after being called up on an emergency basis to replace Woll.
