As Jake McCabe got ready to slot back into the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup, he was asked about former head coach Sheldon Keefe‘s impact on his game during an interview.

TORONTO -- Sheldon Keefe coached 172 regular-season games at Scotiabank Arena when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2019-24. So to say his trip to the arena on Thursday was familiar, right down to the traffic, is fair.

TORONTO (AP) — William Nylander scored his second goal of the game at 1:10 of overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. Devils coach Sheldon Keefe was back at Scotiabank Arena as a visitor for the first time since being fired by the Maple Leafs in the spring.

The Maple Leafs will be without defenseman Jake McCabe after he was hurt in Sunday's overtime win over the Flyers.

Tavares’ status for Thursday night’s game against the New Jersey Devils was unclear after an injury cut short Wednesday’s practice. Midway through Wednesday’s practice, centre John Tavares laboured off the ice favouring his right leg before limping to the dressing room.

Two third-period goals by Auston Matthews pushed the ex-coach’s return to overtime, where William Nylander won it for the Leafs 70 seconds in, ending Toronto’s season-high three-game losing streak.

Sheldon Keefe walked a familiar path inside Scotiabank Arena. He simply turned left a little sooner — to the visitors locker room — than in years past.

William Nylander inadvertently presented a challenge to the Toronto Maple Leafs: good teams find their way out of three-game losing streaks, and through his own heroics, the Maple Leafs responded with a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory over the New Jersey Devils,

It was only three games, this most recent losing skid for the Maple Leafs. And William Nylander made certain the slump wouldn’t make it to four.