The Toronto Maple Leafs were expected to be very dependent on their core group and top six forwards to carry the bulk of their offensive burden this season, but in a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesar’s Arena on Saturday, the club got all of it’s scoring from their third and fourth lines.
Nick Shore, Ilya Mikheyev, Alex Kerfoot, Jake Muzzin and Trevor Moore scored, Dmytro Timashov had two assists, and Frederik Andersen made 26 saves for his third victory of the season for Toronto, who snapped a three-game losing streak with a strong road effort.
"I started [Gauthier] and Shore – whatever line you want to call it – in the D-zone every time and they seemed to win the draw and play in the offensive zone, so that was a good line for us." Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. "I think [Kerfoot's] line with [Moore] and Mikheyev is getting better each and every game and they've been good in lots of games for us, so that was positive."
As has been the case for all but one of their games this season, the Leafs struggled out of the gate as the opposition scored the opening goal. Jacob De La Rose gave Detroit the lead just 3:44 into the first, outmuscling rookie Rasmus Sandin in front of the net and backhanding it past Andersen.
Toronto tied the game on some excellent work from fourth liner Timashov, who knocked Wings defenseman Dennis Cholowski off the puck and centering it to Shore for a backhander that beat Jimmy Howard. The two sides played fairly close to the vest in the middle frame, but Toronto took the lead late in the second as Kasperi Kapanen’s long bomb clearing attempt found Mikheyev, who beat the defender, evaded Howard who came out of his crease and buried it into the net.
Ilya Mikheyev! Great speed to chase down the loose puck and beat Howard. 2-1. pic.twitter.com/O0c170kAS4
The Leafs widened their lead midway through the third, as Kerfoot scored on a rebound to make it 3-1. Darren Helm responded for Detroit just 24 seconds later to cut the lead to 3-2, but Muzzin and Timashov teamed up on a give-and-go to give Toronto some insurance and Moore added an empty-netter.
"I thought [Timashov] had a heck of a game. He was fast, he was strong, he was physical." Babcock said. "The goals and that stuff were bonus, but I thought he played real well."
Toronto gets a two-day break for Thanksgiving before the first of back-to-back games against the Minnesota Wild at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.
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