Leafs ride 4-goal 1st period to 3rd straight win
Toronto defeats Detroit with goals from 6 different players
Curtis McElhinney was there when it counted as the Toronto Maple Leafs earned a rare win in the back end of two games in two nights.
McElhinney got his first start of the year in place of Frederik Andersen and made 30 saves for a 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.
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Nazem Kadri, Zach Hyman, Auston Matthews, Connor Brown, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs (6-1-0), who earned a 2-0 win over Washington with Andersen in net on Tuesday.
"It's nice, the first one is at home instead of on the road so you can match up accordingly. We used everybody last night, a good four-line rotation, so that helped us as well. Our guys were fresher than they might have been," said Leafs coach Mike Babcock, whose team won just six times in 18 tries last season in the second of back-to-back games.
"McElhinney had a real solid effort for us, he had to be good early. Even though we scored [early] it took a while to get our legs going."
Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Tatar, Jonathan Ericsson found the back of the net for the Red Wings (4-3-0). Nick Jensen had three assists.
'I think there was some funny goals'
Jimmy Howard gave up three goals on four shots before getting yanked in favour of Petr Mrazek late in the first period.
"I think there was some funny goals," said Wings coach Jeff Blashill.
"I don't know if it was all on them, some of it is it's one of those nights."
Toronto scored on its first two shots for a 2-0 lead less than seven minutes into the game and had goals on four of its first five shots for a commanding lead at first intermission.
Kadri took a long pass from Ron Hainsey, walked in and beat Howard over the blocker with Toronto's first shot of the game at 5:56.
"I thought [Kadri's] group was our best group tonight, dialled in start to finish," said Babcock.
Hyman made it 2-0 only 44 seconds later, tipping a Rielly shot past Howard.
Zetterberg put Detroit on the board with 7:50 to play in the first after getting McElhinney to bite on a fake before skating around the net and finishing on a wrap-around with the Leafs netminder out of position.
Mrazek didn't fare any better
McElhinney made up for his blunder on Zetterberg by getting his left pad down on an Anthony Mantha shot when the Wings forward got in alone at the side of the net.
Matthews chased Howard from the Wings net with 4:14 to play in the first, snapping a shot past him from almost the exact same spot Kadri did to open the scoring.
Mrazek didn't fare any better as Brown beat him through a screen on the first shot he faced — only 40 seconds after Matthews's goal.
Tatar cut into Toronto's lead 7:02 into the second period when he put in a rebound off his own shot that McElhinney initially kicked into a dangerous area.
Detroit made it 4-3 just 1:34 later on a play that needed video review.
Ericsson's point shot beat McElhinney but was originally disallowed because of goalie interference on Justin Abdelkader. Wings coach Jeff Blashill challenged the call and it was over turned.
Rielly made good use of a Toronto power play, beating Mrazek from the point to make it 5-3 with 7:03 to go in the second.
'It's still October'
"We're playing good at that point, we take a penalty and they score," said Blashill. "With that said we had opportunities on our power play and didn't score."
Detroit put some pressure on Toronto in the first half of a mostly uneventful third period, but McElhinney was there to keep it a two-goal game until Nylander scored into an empty net.
"There's a little rust on my end, that's for sure, but it sure did feel nice to get in there," said McElhinney. "Obviously, the run support early on helps and goes a long way. It's just a big win for us and I'm happy I could help out."
The win leaves Toronto tops in the league with 12 points.
"Great to see, but it's still October," said Kadri. "There's a lot of good teams and it won't be this loose for long."
The Leafs had a moment of thanks and celebration of Gord Downie before the game. The Tragically Hip frontman died of brain cancer at the age of 53 on Tuesday night.
The Hip was blaring in the Leafs' locker-room before the team's morning skate.
"He's a huge inspiration to all of Canada," said Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. "He has a lot of fans in this room, all over Toronto, all over Canada, all over the world."