Maple Leafs stay ahead of Detroit in 5-3 win

Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his second period goal with Nazem Kadri #43 while playing the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on October 11, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The Red Wings lose a very close one against a heavily offensive giant Thursday night. Detroit’s fight back from 3-1 down ended with the Toronto Maple Leafs handing them their fourth loss in a row in a 5-3 score at Little Caesars Arena. Auston Matthews had two goals on the night in what had the looks of a dominating performance by his team.

The Red Wings are in need to put a win on the record books this season but will have trouble getting that done. After two losses on the road in Southern California, the only thing Detroit earned was a single point in their overtime win against the Ducks. Getting any would be a huge challenge against the Maple Leafs who have won three of their last four. They stood as an offensive leading team with Matthews and John Tavares on top of their offense. Matthews looked to extend his scoring streak to five games against Detroit who is down on strength at the blue line. With that as one of their vulnerabilities that sticks out, Toronto would hunt down every weakness and dominate quick.

Off the opening faceoff, Matthews got a great start charging ahead towards the Detroit net where he narrowly missed the net that Jimmy Howard stood for the Red Wings. They still were first to record a shot but Detroit was with them along the way giving very little room for them to get a sudden jump on the puck undefended. The Red Wings fired their first at Frederik Anderson right in the middle where he made the stop.

A power play came to them on a slashing call to Nazem Kadri but Andersen made two saves of the several attempts Detroit took. While nothing came of the man advantage, they caught a break with a three on one that allowed Nick Jensen on the lone end to fire one for his first of the year. Toronto soon had their time playing 5 on 4 but the Red Wings penalty killing unit took care of another one making it 12 of 13 this season. Toronto increased their shots on goal but remained a goal down halfway in the period.

Danny DeKeyser and Josh Leivo got into a scuffle seconds back into even strength where they both scored a couple of head shots on one another. With the heat raised with eight minutes remaining, both Detroit and Toronto were hot to fight for their current stance. The Leafs responded with a three man play where a stretch pass to Mitchell Marner found Morgan Reilly in the slot to fire the one timer behind Howard at 15:48 for his third.

Andreas Athanasiou continued to be frustrated with his inability to score as his line got ahead of everyone to set up an easy play where they had Andersen alone to themselves but as he looked for the shot, the Toronto netminder made the save off the leg pad. It was the final play made in the first where the Leafs outshot them 11-6. The Red Wings had a lot of elements working for them including winning 61 percent of the faceoffs made.

With that as a big problem, Toronto made it a mission to do one better and get ahead on the scoreboard. It took them two minutes of the second period to get it done as they patiently pushed the puck forward to the net. A second attempt began from behind Howard where a pass by Zach Hyman to Marner who was all lone to the left of the net got it through for his third and second point of the game.

Toronto already had half as many shots in the period than the Red Wings spending a good amount of time pressuring them in their zone. It led to another goal that was credited to Matthews who snapped a shot to the right of Howard for his eighth. Detroit went on their second man advantage but getting a goal through Toronto soon became a pipe dream.

Toronto’s defense quickly brought the situation back to 5 on 5 where they again attacked in the Red Wings zone. Detroit tried fighting them off each time preventing more from getting in but getting pucks to the Toronto end was difficult to put together. When 40 minutes was in the books, Toronto had outshot the Red Wings 15-5 and held their two goal lead. Toronto improved on the faceoff winning 46 percent and increased the turnovers with five.

The Red Wings made the adjustments necessary to play stronger hockey as the third got underway with them getting the upper hand on shots. Plenty came in front of Andersen who got into trouble but stopped a few. Tomas Vanek intent on getting a goal failed to do so on a great opportunity. Despite not getting his team closer, there remained a lot of time on the clock to still make a comeback.

The period came to the middle where Jensen once again gained an opportunity for himself. The 28 year old got hold of the puck for a quick shot that just got a piece of the net giving him two on the night while bringing the deficit down to a single goal. It didn’t take Toronto long to make a statement for Detroit’s goal and it came on Matthew’s second of the night to recover the margin.

Detroit was beginning to believe that they still had the tenacity to fight for a chance to take it to overtime. With six minutes left, Dylan Larkin fired the puck toward the net where it spun just enough with Bertuzzi putting the blade of his stick on the puck to get it over the goal line completely. Officials reviewed the play and agreed that it was a good goal giving Larkin credit for the goal.

Time was running out for them to even the game and with penalties between the two, it left Detroit with less power to achieve more time to play. The Red Wings got plenty of time while shorthanded but couldn’t get the tying goal behind Andersen. They went for the sixth man pulling Howard from the net with less than two to play. Athanasiou was back to try and be the hero but couldn’t do it. Coach Jeff Blashill called a timeout with the hope that he had the play that could send them to 3 on 3 overtime.

Larkin won the faceoff which allowed Detroit to fire away at the puck. They made sure to regain control for more opportunities which had Vanek back out to get a piece of it. A wraparound attempt from the Austrian almost had it but was late by microseconds. When Toronto got hold of the puck they sent it down the ice with Ron Hainsey earning his second to seal the victory. It was their 35^th shot on goal that had them shutting down what was a true comeback by the Red Wings.

Andersen was the big winner on defense as he stopped 26 by Detroit for a .897 save percentage improving to 3-1-0. Howard made no real mistakes in his time between the pipes where he stopped 30 but still looked for a regulation win. With very little time to enjoy being back in Detroit, the Red Wings would prepare for another road trip to begin in Boston in a matinee against the Bruins.