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The Toronto Maple Leafs registered their fifth exhibition win in a row at the newly christened Little Caesar's Arena on Friday, as Auston Matthews scored the game-winner early in the third period in a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Matthews and Leo Komarov scored for Toronto and Frederik Andersen made 21 saves in the victory.
In spite of being outshot 15-3 in the first, the two clubs were even on the scoreboard after 20 minutes. Marner opened the scoring just under four minutes into the game on the power play, as his long shot drifted past Wings goalie Jimmy Howard. Gustav Nyquist tied the game midway through the period on a giveaway by Tyler Bozak.
Marner goal pic.twitter.com/lkIEg4zM8t
— steph (@myregularface) September 29, 2017
"We were no good in the first," Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after the game. "We dug in in the second and the third and played much better, and it was a good win for our team."
Nylander put the Leafs back in the lead in the opening minute of the middle frame, deflecting a Jake Gardiner shot between the legs of the Wings goaltender, but Detroit tied the contest in the final minute of the period, as Gardiner lost the puck along the boards and Luke Glendening converted past Andersen.
featuring the very important celebration pic.twitter.com/ZxNLHMAVXy
— steph (@myregularface) September 30, 2017
Matthews put Toronto up for good just 37 seconds into the third, as Nylander beat the Detroit defender to the corner and quickly centered the puck to the Calder Trophy winner in front of the net.
Matthews goal pic.twitter.com/BBC7Azx1Uf
— steph (@myregularface) September 30, 2017
In the battle for roster spots, center Dominic Moore may have improved his chances of being the Leafs fourth line center on opening night with his performance on Friday. The veteran won seven of nine face-offs on the night and was effective as part of Toronto's penalty killing unit.
Swedish rookie blueliners Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman put forth solid outings and both have made a good case for earning the vacant spot on the Leafs blueline, but it is likely that one will be staying on the roster and the other will start their North American career with the AHL Toronto Marlies.
"I thought (Rosen's) first period wasn't as good as he normally is and I thought he settled in and played good. I thought (Borgman) was big and strong the whole game and played well." Babcock said. "Here I am after seven games and they are done playing, and I don't know what to do, so that's a good camp."
The Leafs complete the pre-season with a rematch against Detroit at Ricoh Coliseum on Saturday, but it will be a completely different roster playing for Toronto.
Curtis McElhinney will get the start in goal, defenseman Roman Polak will see his first game action of training camp, partnered with rookie Travis Dermott and 2017 top pick Timothy Liljegren will be paired with veteran AHLer Vincent Loverde.
Miro Aaltonen will get his final chance to convince the coaching staff that he should be the club's fourth line center and will play with Josh Leivo and Kasperi Kapanen, while Eric Fehr centers a line with Nikita Soshnikov and Andreas Johnsson.
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