NEWARK – The New Jersey Devils home opener at the Prudential Center on Thursday night went off as expected, with just one catch. Yes, after the game was over, a large crowd of reporters gathered around a large Swedish goaltender to celebrate a big performance in an impressive win. It just wasn’t the one anyone was anticipating it would be heading into the day. Something of a surprise starter for the Toronto Maple Leafs, six-foot-seven, 224-pound Dennis Hildeby stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced in his NHL debut, outdueling fellow countryman Jacob Markstrom for the victory. “It was definitely not a perfect game, some things to work on, but it felt good,” Hildeby said.  “The guys played good, blocked shots too. It’s better than losing (the debut) for sure.” The 23-year-old was forced into action with the Leafs on a back-to-back to start the season – Edison native Anthony Stolarz started the opener on Wednesday – and projected starter Joseph Woll out due to injury. Starting just his second full professional season in North America, the “Beast” made several memorable, sprawling saves in his debut, including on Jack Hughes and Erik Haula, and impressed head coach Craig Berube with his poise in a challenging situation. “I thought he was solid,” Berube said. “He got tested on their power play for sure, but he came up big. I thought he made some real good saves for us, and I was really happy for him…to me, he looked pretty calm in net overall, tracking the puck well, playing it.” After an impressive start to their season in sweeping the Buffalo Sabres in sweeping the Global Series games in Prague, it was something of a letdown for the Devils, who got down 3-0 early and could never fully fight their way back.  Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier scored the goals for New Jersey, but some poor defending at times and inability from Markstrom, who was acquired via trade this off-season as the latest solution in net for a team that has desperately needed one for years now, to come up with the big save when it was needed the most. “Can’t spot any team in the league a lead like that,” said Devils head coach, Sheldon Keefe, who was let go as the head coach of the Leafs at the end of last season. “I don’t know that they deserved to be up three the way that they were, but the reality is that they were.  Hard hole to get out of for sure, but in some cases, we dug our own hole there.  Puck play not nearly good enough, and defending, not even close to hard enough.  We paid for it.”