Red Wings-Maple Leafs wrap-up: under-estimated Wings force Toronto to self-destruct

The Detroit Red Wings rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.

The game kicked off a home-and-home series between the teams, who will play again in Toronto on Monday, which is Canadian Thanksgiving, at 2 PM EDT.

On Saturday night, the Red Wings rallied from a 2-0 1st period deficit thanks to goals from Marco Kasper, Lucas Raymond (goals 99 and 100), Patrick Kane, Simon Edvinsson and Andrew Copp (empty net), as well as a 20-save performance from Cam Talbot…

And Detroit was utterly relentless in attacking Anthony Stolarz over the course of 60 minutes of hockey, peppering the Leafs’ goalie with 35 shots and 67 shot attempts.

Detroit’s power play also went 1-for-4, and the Wings killed all 3 Maple Leafs power plays.

While the Red Wings celebrated a bounce-back win, the Maple Leafs, perhaps unsurprisingly, told the Hockey News’s David Alter that the scoreboard was indicative of Toronto’s on-ice performance, and not Detroit’s:

“I thought we started off fine in the second, but then we didn’t close anything off in our zone,” [coach Craig] Berube said. “Spent too much time in our zone. They eventually capitalized. We tired ourselves up because we three-quarter-iced ourselves in the second period. That cost us the hockey game.”

Berube elaborated further about the high-quality backdoor chances Detroit had in the second period. With those backdoors.

“Yeah, that’s the result. But, you know, saying that, we’ve got to take care of those seams. We know that they like them, and we didn’t do a good enough job there either. But, you know, for me, that’s a difference in a hockey game right there.”

Berube continued while speaking to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox…

“We spent too much time in our zone. They eventually capitalized. We tired ourselves out because we three-quarter-iced ourselves in the second period. That cost us the hockey game,” Berube summed. “You know, we had the puck twice — before two (Detroit) goals — on our tape, and guys were just standing watching the guy instead of working to get out of our zone. That’s really the game, for me. We beat ourselves, in my opinion.”

If we, as observers, are still trying to decipher what exactly the Maple Leafs have here, that’s because those conversations are being held internally as well.

Be it through injury or inconsistency, none of the forward lines have wowed through 120 minutes. Turnovers are too plentiful, unnecessary penalties too common, and Grade-As too easy to come by for the other guys.

The Leafs have generally been outskated and outshot, and those trends were foreshadowed in an uninspiring pre-season.

“We’ve got to be better in every area, that’s for sure,” said Max Domi, who scored a nice goal and took a bad penalty. “By no means hitting the panic button. It’s just we’ve got to be better. And we know that, and we will be.”

Who added this:

“We have to come to play every night. Doesn’t matter who you’re playing,” said Stolarz. He’s acutely aware that the Wings had been ripped by coach Todd McLellan after laying a 5-1 egg to Montreal in their home opener.

“They’re a team that, after their first game, and I imagine that (first) period, got reamed out. So, we knew that they were gonna come,” Stolarz said. “We stopped getting pucks in deep, stopped hunting them on the forecheck, and we kind of just sat back and kind of let them walk all over us.”

The Maple Leafs fly home for a rematch — “a good chance to get revenge, if you will,” Rielly said — against these same Red Wings in less than 48 hours.

We’ll utilize NHL.com’s Dave Hogg’s recap to pivot from the Leafs’ perspective to those of the Red Wings’ players and coach:

“This is going to leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth,” Stolarz said. “Now we’re going back home for a 2 p.m. game on (Canadian) Thanksgiving. The fans are going to be riled up and we’re going to match that intensity.”

Each team opened their season at home against the Montreal Canadiens. Toronto won 5-2 on Wednesday while the Red Wings lost 5-1 on Thursday.

“We didn’t give up a bushelful of odd-numbered rushes, which is a good sign,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “We played with more pop and more energy.”

Calle Jarnkrok put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 at 2:27 of the first period. Roy backhanded a rebound of a Chris Tanev point shot to Jarnkrok, who tapped it over the goal line. Roy made it 2-0 at 12:29, deflecting Rielly’s shot from the left point between Talbot’s pads.

“At that point, we had given up seven straight goals, but we didn’t roll over,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “We were disappointed at what had transpired, but we settled in and played well.”

Marco Kasper made it 2-1 at 9:56 of the second period, taking a pass from Kane and beating Stolarz from the right face-off circle. Raymond tied the game 2-2 at 14:55, putting Dylan Larkin’s cross-slot pass into an open net. Red Wings forward Emmitt Finnie picked up his first NHL point with the secondary assist. Kane gave Detroit a 3-2 lead at 18:10, finishing a pass from DeBrincat with a one-timer from the right circle.

“I thought we had a decent start, so finding ourselves down 2-0 was a little disappointing,” Kane said. “It speaks volumes about the group that, after the first game and then being down 2-0 tonight, we had it back to 3-2 by the end of the second.”

Raymond agreed, as he told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

“It did not come out the way we wanted to (Thursday) and that’s far from the way we want to play,” Raymond said. “We cleaned up a lot of stuff and the way we looked tonight, even down 2-0, it was a good 60 minutes of hockey.”

Raymond wasn’t aware of his milestone, but was thankful of it.

“It’s fun, I didn’t know about it, but it’s cool,” Raymond said. “You don’t take that stuff for granted. It’s always fun to score, so I look to keep that going.”

What coach Todd McLellan liked to see was the way the Wings responded after Thursday’s fiasco.

“We were a lot more resilient,” McLellan said. “Going down 2-0, them scoring on their first shot on goal, was not part of the plan. At that point, we had given up (six) straight goals, so talk about being mentally tough. We didn’t roll over, and woe is us, we dug in a little bit and that was a good sign. We played with more pop and energy and we were connected. Sometimes the first night does that to you. We settled in.”

The way the Wings have responded to challenges, since McLellan took over in December, has impressed the veteran coach.

“When they’ve been challenged, they do find ways,” McLellan said. “It’s just you can’t challenge them 82 times a year. It’s those other times, just them coming to the rink and getting ready to play without us poking or prodding them. We have to get good in those areas. The days or nights we challenged them last year, they responded. There were a lot of challenges, and they answered the bell. Tonight was another one. But you can’t, as a coach, do that 82 times so you want to learn to self-challenge and they will.”

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff noted that Marco Kasper’s 2-1 goal turned the ship around:

Marco Kasper’s goal to narrow Toronto’s lead to 2-1 won’t go down as the biggest goal of the Red Wings’ season. It is, however, the biggest goal of the season so far.

“Just prior to that, they had a deflection in our end that almost went in again,” McLellan said. “That would have certainly been deflating. Could we overcome it? I’m not sure. Marco’s goal turned the tide for us.”

For a team whose mental toughness was rightly questioned following their fold-up-the-tents approach in Game 1, digging in and battling back sent a vital message that should resonate throughout the group. McLellan credited his squad for not embracing the “woe is me” attitude after coming out of their second straight opening period of the season staring down a two-goal deficit.

“You find yourself down 2-0, it’s a little disappointing,” Kane said. “But I think it speaks volumes of the group with kind of just what we went through the past couple of days, not being at the top of our game and not having a great start. But to bounce back, being down 2-0 and come out of the second being up 3-2, is obviously an ideal situation for us. I know it’s two games into the season, but we proved we can turn the corner when we face that adversity.”

Raymond duly noted that the Wings have had to play in these circumstances pretty regularly over the past couple of seasons, as he told the Free Press’s Helene St. James…

“We’ve been in situations a couple years in a row now where it’s come down to the end, where the margins are very thin,” Raymond said. “It’s about getting off to a good start putting ourselves in a good position and getting good habits. We’ve got all the tools in this locker room and around us to be a really good hockey team.”

A crucial moment came at 14:56 of the third period, when Jonatan Berggren was called for holding. Talbot helped out with two saves as the penalty killers came through with a huge stretch.

“You don’t want to put that team on the power play, especially when you’re 200 feet away from your net,” McLellan said. “It just makes no sense. So give the penalty killers and Talbs credit for getting us through that. And the extension of the penalty kill was the 6-on-5. They basically played the last four minutes, four of the last five minutes on the power play. I thought we did a real good job of holding our own there. Big task for us.”

It was a performance that can be replicated, and one that did just what was needed: Distance the Wings from their opening night dud.

“I believe they were all, you know, to a man, really disappointed in what transpired the other night,” McLellan said. “Now they got rewarded for fixing it and for doing the work. We’ve got to bottle that type of game up and continue on with it.”

And DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills’ recap will take us out with a few more insights from Raymond and Kane:

“Did not come out the way we wanted to [on Opening Night] and that was far from the way we want to play,” said Lucas Raymond, who scored twice, including what proved to be the game-winner on the power play in the third period. “Cleaned up a lot of stuff. I think the way we looked tonight…it was a good 60 minutes of hockey.”

The Maple Leafs scored first, as Calle Jarnkrok put home a loose puck at the doorstep to give them an early 1-0 lead just 2:27 into the opening period. Then, with 7:31 left in the frame, Nicolas Roy deflected Morgan Rielly’s shot from the point past Talbot to double it to 2-0.

But Detroit regrouped after the first period and just before the halfway point of the second, sliced its deficit in half when Marco Kasper buried a snapshot from the slot. The play was kickstarted by Patrick Kane after he won a puck battle in the corner and got it to his younger linemate. Alex DeBrincat had the secondary assist on Kasper’s goal, which made it 2-1 at 8:56.

“It starts with J.T., Copper and Brans’ shift there,” Kane said about how the Red Wings’ first goal of the night transpired. “They have a good shift, get off the ice and put us in a good position to get out there fresh against some of their tired guys. We make a turnover, and that was a great catch and release there by Kasp to find us our first goal. It was a great shot.”

Keeping that momentum on the home squad’s side, a wide-open Raymond made no mistake in front on a cross-crease pass from captain Dylan Larkin and tied it 2-2 at 14:55 of the second period. With the secondary assist on Raymond’s first goal of the night, Emmitt Finnie also recorded his first career NHL point.

“For Emmitt, just the way he came into Training Camp, the rookie tournament and the way he played and made his mark, it was fun to watch,” Raymond said. “He’s not phased one bit. He plays this game with his speed. Obviously, very exciting for him to get his first point today and hopefully the first of a lot.”

Kane tacked on another goal for the Red Wings at 18:10 of the second period, one-timing a slick feed that came across the ice from DeBrincat to make it 3-2. The second helper went to Albert Johansson.

“It’s not like we came in and we had to change our whole game or anything like that,” Kane said when asked what the message was during the first intermission. “Could see we started to turn the game there in the second. We had a lot of shifts in their end, a lot of good changes and getting fresh guys against some of their tired guys was a huge momentum swing.”

Multimedia:

Highlights: Sportsnet posted a 10:28 highlight clip:

NHL.com posted an 8:37 highlight clip:

Post-game: The Maple Leafs’ website posted clips of Nicholas Roy, Morgan Rielly, Max Domi, Anthony Stolarz and coach Craig Berube’s post-game comments;

The Red Wings posted a 16:24 clip of comments made by Patrick Kane, Lucas Raymond and coach Todd McLellan:

The Free Press’s Helene St. James also posted a 6:52 clip of Kane, Raymond and coach McLellan’s remarks.

Photos: The Free Press posted a 31-image gallery;

The Detroit News posted a 23-image gallery.

STATISTICS: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary: