It was an all too familiar pattern for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as they struggled to find their footing early against the Detroit Red Wings, rallied to take a 4-3 lead in the third period, but fell victim to their tendency towards defensive problems, as Tomas Tatar’s goal with 6:16 left in regulation forced overtime and led to the Wings 5-4 shootout victory at Air Canada Center on Saturday night.
Pavel Datsyuk scored once in regulation and the deciding goal in the shootout for Detroit, Joakim Andersson, Tomas Jurco and Tatar also scored for the Wings, who won their second game in a row after losing six straight games.
Cody Franson, Dion Phaneuf, Joffrey Lupul and David Clarkson scored for the Leafs, who fall to 18-16-4 on the season.
Toronto started optimistically, as Franson’s point blast beat a screened Jonas Gustavsson just over seven minutes into the first to give them a 1-0 lead, but Detroit took over the opening period from that point on, chasing Leafs starter James Reimer after allowing three goals on 12 shots.
Datsyuk replied to Franson’s goal less than two minutes later, as Detroit coach Mike Babcock was able to get the star center out against Toronto’s fourth line. The Wings took the lead at 13:18 on Andersson’s sixth of the season, as his wraparound went off Reimer’s stick into the far corner of the goal. Detroit extended the lead to 3-1 late in the period, as Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner turned over the puck and was knocked off his skates by Jurco, who headed to the front of the net and backhanded through Reimer pads.
The Leafs slowly stepped up their effort in the middle frame with Jonathan Bernier in goal and drew closer just past the midway point of the game, as Phaneuf’s one timer blast beat Gustavsson’s glove hand. Toronto’s potent power play tied the game as Phil Kessel’s feed found Lupul at the side of the net, who fired the puck quickly over “The Monster’s… shoulder for his 11th goal of the year.
David Clarkson gave Toronto a 4-3 lead midway through the third as he crashed the net and through a wild scrum in the crease found the puck and shoveled it over the red line.
The Leafs failed in their attempt to preserve their slim lead for the victory, as Kessel was unable to win a puck battle along the boards that allowed Jurco to feed Tatar in front of the net and slip it past Bernier to tie the game.
Bernier was stellar in relief of Reimer, making 25 saves on the night, including a short-handed breakaway stop on Datsyuk and a wild sprawling save on Wings forward Drew Miller to preserve the tie late in the third.
Both van Riemsdyk and Mason Raymond were unable to beat Gustavsson in the shootout, while Daniel Alfredsson and Datsyuk tallied to give Detroit the victory in the preview of the January 1 Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, MI.
“The way that game developed in the evening, I think we were fortunate to get a point.… Coach Randy Carlyle said following the game.
The Leafs first line of Kadri-van Riemsdyk-Kessel had another difficult night, as they failed to score at even strength and registered only two assists on Lupul’s second period power-play goal. The unit has just eight points in the last eight games and was responsible for giving up the tying goal.
Toronto’s blueline was also exposed by the Red Wings in the game, as the pairings of Gardiner/Franson and Rielly/Liles were a collective -6 on the night, while the Leafs top pairing of Gunnarsson and Phaneuf were both +2 playing mostly against Datsyuk and Detroit’s top line.
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The second episode of 24/7 – Road To The Winter Classic aired in the US on Saturday night and it was much more interesting and revealing than the opening episode last week. It touched on the Leafs 6-3 loss in St. Louis on December 12 briefly, but really began with the extensive behind the scenes look during Toronto’s 7-3 victory over Chicago extensively through the two losses to Pittsburgh and Florida last week.
The two funniest moment of the show was during the Leafs-Penguins game, when team captains Sidney Crosby exchanged pleasantries about Toronto forward Nazem Kadri:
The show will air in Canada on Sportsnet on Sunday night.
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