The Toronto Maple Leafs had a very busy 40 minutes of play on Wednesday, scoring five times to beat the New Jersey Devils 5-3. After a fight between Mike Brown and Brad Mills only five minutes into the first period, Leafs forward Joey Crabb started off with the scoring by putting a pass from Matthew Lombardi past Devils goalie Martin Brodeur a couple minutes later.

The Devils retaliated after four minutes with a power-play goal from Dainius Zubrus. Mikhail Grabovski helped the Leafs secure the lead before the end of the period by scoring off a pass from Jake Gardiner. The second period is where all the action happened. Patrik Elias tied up the game for the Devils by scoring a power-play goal three minutes in.

However, Joffrey Lupul got the lead back for the Leafs again three minutes later off a pass from Mike Komisarek. The Devils tied the game up yet again off a goal from David Clarkson, who scored two minutes after the last goal. Lupul put the puck in the net two more times, once nine minutes into the period and again three minutes later, to complete his hat-trick and secure the victory for the Leafs.

”I wouldn’t say we’re loosey-goosey,” Ron Wilson said in a post game interview with Fox Sports. ”But it’s like being in a sidecar of a motorcycle and not knowing where the driver is going. I’m happy we won, don’t get me wrong, but we’re starting to get picky about the way we win.” Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson made 19 saves throughout the game, with most of the shots coming in the second period.

Devils goalie Brodeur, in his second start of the season, only saw 23 shots in the game, making the five goals he allowed in to an uglier statistic. The Toronto Maple Leafs (8-3-1) travel to Ohio to face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, while the New Jersey Devils (4-5-1) travel to Pennsylvania to face the Philadelphia Flyers.

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The Philadelphia Flyers scored three goals in the first period on Wednesday to beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in their first matchup since their Eastern Conference quarterfinal last season.

Scott Hartnell, Sean Couturier and James van Riemsdyk scored early in the first period of play for the Flyers, making the Sabres have to exchange goalie Ryan Miller after 11 shots for backup goalie Jhonas Enroth. Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov came out of the game with 29 saves. The last time Miller was pulled due to a poor performance was after allowing four goals in one period at Florida on Dec. 17, 2010

“We were really peppering him early,” Hartnell said in an interview with Fox Sports after the game. ”Against a top goalie like that, to get him out of there, it was pretty good for us to get pucks on net.”

The rest of the game was played with the Flyers on the defensive; by the end of the game, Enroth only saw 15 shots. Sabres Andrej Sekera was able to score in the second period, ending Bryzgalov’s shutout opportunity. The Flyers also spent the whole period in the penalty box, collecting 23 penalty minutes mostly due to a 10 minute misconduct penalty on Zac Rinaldo.

Luke Adam scored eight minutes into the third period, bringing the Sabres one goal away from tying up the game and a needed overtime. However, the Flyers were able to hold off or interrupt any offensive attempts for the rest of the game.

“Everyone battled hard and we were rewarded with two points,” Bryzgalov said. ”It was a really tough game for us. We played very good in the first period, but then in the second period we turned over the puck and got some penalties.

The Philadelphia Flyers (7-4-1) travel back home to face the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, while the Buffalo Sabres (6-5-0) get to welcome the Calgary Flames on Friday.

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