Evgeny Svechnikov made a name for himself in a solid win Friday night. His two goals and the Red Wings defensive strength were enough to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton.
Detroit finishes up a final back to back series before they get ready for the upcoming season. It gives the lineup a chance to deal with the Maple Leafs who are coming off a horrid game losing to the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 Thursday. With the home advantage sitting in their favor, they would try to bring a better showing against their Original Six rivals. Each side had young players on the bench knowing that many of them would have their last chance to secure spots for the 82 game season.
Toronto gained a power play early on to start the first period but as Detroit killed off the penalty, Svechnikov scored coming out of the box for a 1-0 lead. The goal gave the Red Wings some energy with Eric Tangradi getting in on the boards with shots to Maple Leafs goalie Jonas Enroth.
As the period went surpassed the halfway point, the Red Wings were taking the game to the Toronto end hoping to get a bigger margin on their division rivals. Detroit added a big statement with Robbie Russo delivering a big hit on Peter Holland smashing the Toronto defenseman into the boards. Holland wanted a piece of the young defenseman sending the teams into a scuffle behind the Detroit net.
Things settled down for the remainder of the period with Toronto hunting for a good shot on net minder Jimmy Howard in net for Detroit. In the final minute, the Maple Leafs got the game tied with Brendan Leipsic scoring on a pass from behind the net from Ben Smith. It was enough to level things in the period ending twenty minutes of play.
Svechnikov notched his second of the night just four minutes into the following period where his stance in front of Enroth paid off. A pass from the boards by Russo allowed the Russian to get an easy high wrister on the Toronto net minder that gave Detroit back the lead. The offensive chances continued for the Red Wings who picked up their second power play chance giving Enroth plenty to deal with.
Despite going 0-2 on the man advantage, they kept Toronto from gaining long possessions with the puck. Toronto got very close to leveling back in the game with Kerby Rychel’s drive from the blue line that almost got the best of Howard. The puck took a hit off the goal post, bounced off Howard’s leg pad and nearly went across the goal line before he retrieved it.
Toronto had one final chance to pull off the same feat they did at the tail end of the first gaining a power play to close out the second. The Maple Leafs didn’t get clean scoring chances on the Detroit PK who played the last seconds slapping the puck away near their blue line. Things ended with Detroit gaining time to shoot on their opponents’ net as they remained out front.
The third was a real fight for control as Detroit maintained their hold on the lead. Toronto had some chances during the Red Wings vulnerable moments but stayed alive to deal with the issues at hand. Svechnikov remained a dangerous figure for the Red Wings as he searched out his hat trick goal but couldn’t get it done on a breakaway chance late in the period.
With his tenacity for success and the Red Wings still outshooting Toronto, the team used the last minutes of regulation frustrating the Maple Leafs. Coach Mike Babcock decided to pull Enroth out of the net giving his team 90 seconds with six men on the ice in order to send the game to overtime. Their efforts went unanswered as Detroit fought to break the Maple Leafs of possession and kill time off the clock for the final horn to sound.
With a good win in hand, the Red Wings proved their worth hanging on in a close game to return home for their last of the preseason against Toronto Saturday
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