NEWARK – There is no such thing as a good loss. So, while the New Jersey Devils largely controlled play on Tuesday night at the Prudential Center, it was hard to find solace in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, capped off by reigning Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner Auston Matthews’ game-winner at the 2:51 mark of the extra session. The Devils had a 39-16 edge in shots on goal and were ahead in every imaginable metric, but the only numbers that matter at the end of the day are the biggest ones on the scoreboard. While certainly a loss they can afford having a firm grip on a playoff spot, you could hear a pin drop in the locker room after the game. There was to be no talk of big picture “building off of their performance” in there. Results. That’s it, that’s all. “Wins,” said Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom. “You build off of wins, that’s what I like.” Truth be told, of course, New Jersey will win more games than not if they can string together a complete performance as they did on Tuesday night. The tone was set in a first period in which they outshot the Maple Leafs, 16-1, but ultimately had no luck getting the puck past Edison native Anthony Stolarz in the Toronto net. Fresh off of a 4-0 dud to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night, it was clear there was an early response from the team to try to erase the memory of a largely forgettable showing. “We broke the puck out really well, and we didn’t let them get out on the forecheck,” said Devils forward Timo Meier. “They’re a good forecheck team, that’s the way they create a lot of offense and we shot that down for them in the first period with the way we could break the puck out really quick. We were on top of them, and it’s hard to play against us then, because we’ve got a lot of speed and we can be very physical. Once we get the puck in the (offensive) zone, we can be dangerous. We did a good job with that in the first 20 minutes for sure.” Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game that this was the best first period he’s seen from his team all season, with his group putting down something of a blueprint for how they can look when running on all cylinders. “Hard to say why exactly it was (so successful early) tonight,” Keefe said. “I thought all four lines and our D, we skated. We pressured the puck, we won puck battles, we got pucks to the net.  We got to the inside and had some looks in on the goaltender on a team that really doesn’t give you a lot. I just really liked our game tonight.”