Sweden national coach Rikard Gronborg

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TORONT0 — The Toronto Maple Leafs gave indications that they are learning how to win at home while the New Jersey Devils have yet to get their act together on the road.After losing four of their previous home games , the Maple Leafs (10-5-0) defeated the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night and their record at Scotiabank Arena stands at 4-5-0.The Devils (6-6-1), after thumping the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 Monday for their first away win of the season, were trounced 7-3 by the Ottawa Senators om Tuesday and are 1-5-0 on the road.Article continues below ...Despite the win over Vegas, Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock was not totally convinced. “I thought we started real good the first 10 minutes and then I thought we got fooling around with the puck and they showed us how fast they were,” Babcock said. “I thought they really dominated the second period. We were lucky to get out of the second. I didn’t mind our third. In the end, when you look at this game, it’s kind of like when Pittsburgh left here with the points or Dallas left here with the points. You thought you had done enough to win, and you didn’t. Tonight, the shoe is on the other foot and we’ll take ‘er and maybe we can loosen up at home a little bit and play.”The Devils will be playing the sixth game of a seven-game trip Friday in Toronto during the Hall of Fame weekend festivities.They lost in Ottawa despite taking a 2-0 lead at the 11:20 mark of the first period.“Those first 10 minutes we got rewarded for what we wanted to do,” Devils defenseman Andy Greene said. “We were playing with speed , we were playing a north-south game and we were getting rewarded. You’d think it would be easier that way to just stick with it. All of a sudden we were moving east-west, we stopped moving our feet and that seems to be the problem.”The Devils have been searching for consistency. They have not won two in a row since opening the season with four straight wins. They could have some help soon in the return of injured players.Jesper Bratt (jaw fracture), Steven Santini (jaw fracture) and Stefan Noesen (upper body) are still on injured reserve but practiced with the team Thursday in Toronto.Bratt, who has yet to play in the regular season, appears closest to a return and it could happen on Friday or Sunday when the trip ends against the Winnipeg Jets.“It is a possibility,” Devils coach John Hynes said. “He’s really done a good job. His recovery’s gone well, we’ve pushed him really hard, so physically he’s in shape and ready to go. Hopefully he gets cleared here and hopefully he’s back before the end of the trip.”The left winger had 13 goals and 22 assists as a rookie last season. Goaltender Eddie Lack was put on waivers Thursday and that would clear a roster spot for a return of Brett or possibly Noesen, who was injured Oct. 30.The Devils will be facing a hot goaltender in Toronto’s Frederik Andersen, who has allowed one goal in his past two games. He stopped 36 shots against Vegas and has made at least 30 saves in six of his eight win this season.“I , personally, feel good,” Andersen said. “We’re keeping (opposing players) a little bit more to the outside, which is helping me out, seeing the puck better and clearing the shooting lanes. It’s not so many times I have to fight through traffic and, obviously, that makes my job easier.”“It seems like he’s got no pressure on him,” said Toronto right winger Mitch Marner, who scored a goal Tuesday. “He just goes out there and has fun with it. He’s a pretty quiet guy but this year he’s opened up a lot. He jokes around a lot. …When he gets to the rink, he’s a very serious guy. He really focuses and gets ready for the games.” Jim Nill could have picked anyone from an extensive list of experienced out-of-work NHL coaches to fill the Dallas Stars‘ vacancy.Darryl Sutter has won the Stanley Cup twice , Dan Bylsma once, Alain Vigneault has made the Final twice and Dave Tippett is widely considered one of the best in hockey. Any of them could’ve been a nice fit, but the Stars general manger wanted to be comprehensive in his search.”The game is changing, life changes, and we wanted to make sure that we didn’t forget somebody,” Nill said. ”Let’s not leave anything, any leaf unturned, every door open, let’s look at every candidate.”Dallas decided last week on University of Denver coach Jim Montgomery to replace franchise legend Ken Hitchcock, who returned for one season almost two decades after leading the Stars to the Cup. Nill’s front office is far from the only one looking outside the box to college , junior and Europe for coaching candidates, a trend that could lead to far more teams going beyond retreads with the hope of finding the next great mind behind the bench.”It’s more kind of an evolution of the game itself,” said Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol, who was hired out of the University of North Dakota in the summer of 2015 and has gotten the Flyers to the playoffs twice in three seasons. ”There are so many good people coaching at different levels. For a lot of years it seems that maybe the college-coaching level was maybe bypassed for some of the opportunities. But I think when you look at the quality of coaching in the college game today … there’s some real talented people.”Before Hakstol and Montgomery, it had been since Herb Brooks in 1987 and Bob Johnson in 1982 that a coach went from the NCAA ranks directly to the NHL. Outside of now-San Jose’s Peter DeBoer and ex-Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston, junior hockey hasn’t funneled many straight to the NHL, and there have only been two European-born head coaches: Ivan Hlinka and Alpo Suhonen in the early 2000s.It’s far more common for teams to mine the American Hockey League and NHL staffs for head jobs, and that’s usually a necessary step. Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper came from the United States Hockey League but spent time in the AHL before the Lightning elevated him, and longtime Quebec Major Junior Hockey League coach Benoit Groulx is on the same path now with the NHL in his near future.Buffalo’s Phil Housley got some experience as the U.S. world junior coach but went right from high school hockey to being an assistant in Nashville. And Rod Brind’Amour spent seven seasons as an assistant after his playing days were over before being named Carolina’s coach on Tuesday.Hurricanes GM Don Waddell said Brind’Amour’s ”fresh ideas, ability to motivate and understanding of what it takes to bring a championship” to Carolina set him apart. As the New York Rangers look to fill their job after firing Vigneault and other openings come up in the next few offseasons , there will be plenty of fresh coaches to choose from.Boston University’s David Quinn has been linked to the Rangers but will stay at least one more year and run the U.S. world junior team before likely being the next to graduate from college to the NHL. Sweden national coach Rikard Gronborg might also be in the mix sooner than later.”I’ve kind of done all that stuff and coached some of the best players in the world,” Gronborg told Sportsnet recently. ”Now I’m interested to have my ideas, to (implement) them over a period of time and do them overseas, and kind of challenging the coaching community over in the NHL. I bring a different perspective on things.”Germany national coach Marco Sturm also brings a different perspective after playing 14 NHL seasons and leading an unheralded team to capture the silver medal at the most recent Olympics. Sturm would like to coach in the NHL but said: ”I’m only 39 years old, I’ve still got time and I’m still learning and I want to learn and we’ll see what the future presents.”With an eye on the future, Nill looked at the present success of young coaches like Cooper and New Jersey’s John Hynes and widened his net. It ended with Montgomery and perhaps a new thought process from Nill on how to go through coaching searches.”Once we went through this process, I just think … who was Scott Bowman? Someone gave him a chance,” Nill said. ”Who was Mike Babcock? Somebody gave him a chance. This is a guy that he deserves a chance.”—AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins in Dallas contributed.—