Keefe on Leafs: 'They have the best goaltending in the league'

With their scoring down this season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are relying on goaltending to win games and showed that off against their former coach, Sheldon Keefe, on Tuesday.

Anthony Stolarz posted 38 saves as the Maple Leafs overcame a dominant shot advantage for Keefe's New Jersey Devils to win 2-1 in overtime. The Devils finished the loss with a 39-16 advantage in shots, which included a 16-1 edge in the first period. 

"They have the best goaltending in the league on the other side of the ice," Keefe said.

Keefe added he thought it was the Devils "best game of the season" and added, "I leave here feeling pretty good about our team tonight."

Stolarz, who joined the Maple Leafs on a two-year, $5 million contract two months after Keefe was let go by the Maple Leafs, improved his record to 9-5-2 with an NHL-best .928 save percentage and a 2.13 goals-against average. The 30-year-old netminder said postgame the early barrage of shots helped him settle in against the Devils. 

"In the first five minutes of the game they had seven shots, so I think when a team is going to pepper you pretty early on and kind of get you in a groove, it's kind of up to you to stay in there and just keep battling," Stolarz said. "They're an offensive team with a lot of skill, so they're throwing pucks at the net and getting traffic around there. So, it's just up to me to kind of battle through, make the saves, and not give up any second-chance rebounds."

Stolarz has paired in net this season with Joseph Woll, who is 7-3-0 with a .919 save percentage and a 2.20 GAA after missing time with a lower-body injury early in the campaign. 

Toronto is allowing 2.57 goals against per game, which is fifth in the NHL this season and one slot above the Devils, who allow 2.71 goals per game. New Jersey acquired Jacob Markstrom for the Calgary Flames in the off-season to steady their net, with the 34-year-old owning a 13-6-2 record with a .906 save percentage and a 2.48 GAA this season.

Markstrom shouldered the blame for Wednesday's loss, in which he allowed a shorthanded marker to Pontus Holmberg before Auston Matthews scored the game-winner on a breakaway. 

"It's a great game by our guys and they deserved a lot more than one point," Markstrom said. "I thought we lost one point tonight. You don't build off losses, you build off wins, so that's a sour one."

Both the Maple Leafs and Devils are fighting for their division leads this season, with Toronto two points back of the Florida Panthers for first in the Atlantic with a game in hand and New Jersey one point behind the Washington Capitals with four more games played.