Red Wings-Maple Leafs Tweetcap: stolen holiday

The Detroit Red Wings headed to Toronto on Monday afternoon, hoping to sweep their home-and-home series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, whose highly-heralded rookie, Easton Cowan, was to make his NHL debut.

On Monday afternoon, the Red Wings pulled off a heist in Toronto, with Cam Talbot stopping 38 of 40 Toronto shots and Detroit earning goals from Dylan Larkin (PPG from DeBrincat and Raymond) in the 1st period, James van Riemsdyk (from Andrew Copp) in the 3rd period, and, after surrendering their 2-0 lead, Mason Appleton of all people with 15 seconds left in regulation to secure a 3-2 lead over the Maple Leafs, who out-played Detroit by a significant margin.

Sometimes a rope-a-dope, ugly win is a beautiful thing, and the only ugly thing that happened in this one was the Wings losing Lucas Raymond to an upper-body injury. Detroit prevailed through adversity and a lot of self-made mistakes to take this game and to improve their record to 2-and-1, sweeping the home and home series with Toronto.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

PREGAME: In Toronto, everything was focused on Cowan’s rookie debut on Auston Matthews’ wing, so his “rookie lap” was chronicled with significant hype:

And the teams warmed up ahead of a “Prime Video” exclusive in Canada:

The Red Wings’ “debut” came in the form of James van Riemsdyk:

The Leafs and Wings posted their respective lines…

1ST PERIOD: The teams dressed the following starters and lineups:

A beautiful forecheck by Kasper yielded a backhand breakaway for Kane, but the puck rolled off his stick blade…

Matthews and Larkin were battling each other in top line vs. top line play…

And Toronto was taking momentum away from the Wings…

Cam Talbot was holding the fort as the Leafs took an 8-2 lead in shots some 10:26 of the 1st, but the Leafs were starting to come in waves offensively, and Detroit was turnover-prone (especially from the young players) and jittery.

Toronto really pulled away statistically as the period progressed:

PENALTY: At 16:53 of the 1st, Rielly cross-checked Compher, and then berated Compher for “diving” when he really was cross-checked. Detroit to the power play.

Detroit’s first unit did very little, and the second unit did very little.

PENALTY: Benoit afforded Detroit a 5-on-3 for 11 seconds at 18:42 by flipping the puck into the netting in the defensive zone…

GOAL: Remarkably, the Red Wings’ top unit generated a goal on Detroit’s 5th shot. Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin got into a scrum for the puck in front of Stolarz, DeBrincat chipped it to Larkin, he kicked the puck to his stick and backhanded the puck into the top shelf of the Maple Leafs’ net at 18:55.

TORONTO 0, DETROIT 1: Larkin (2) from DeBrincat (4) and Raymond (1) at 18:55 1st period.

Prime Video was giving Toronto blanked coverage, too:

2ND PERIOD: Toronto roared out of the blocks, with Knies getting a shot almost right off the opening faceoff that Talbot stopped awkwardly, and Easton Cowan overpowered Chiarot but fired the puck wide in the slot off a pass from Matthews via a Wings center ice turnover…

The Wings played better in the 2nd, but when the Kasper line fell apart at center ice, the Nylander line got a hell of a rush in on Talbot…

There was bad news from the player-tracking software, however, per FanDuel Sports Network Detroit’s Ken Daniels. Chris Tanev smoked Raymond butt-first into the boards, and Raymond’s right arm was just not right.

Detroit continued to turn over pucks in their own zone and at center ice, however, so Toronto was earning, well, not earning chances against Cam Talbot, who stopped 19 shots by 12:02 of the 2nd.

PENALTY: Benoit was called for tripping Patrick Kane at 13:57 of the 2nd period. Detroit headed to power play #3.

PENALTY: Dylan Larkin also got called for tying up Matthew Knies at 15:22 of the 2nd, affording the Wings 35 seconds of a 4-on-4, then 1:25 of PK time.

Detroit killed the penalty, and…

PENALTY: Toronto was called for too many men on the ice at 17:31.

Detroit gave up a shorthanded 3-on-2, but Talbot made a stop;

Compher, Kane, Larkin, DeBrincat and Seider worked together, and Toronto did a good job of not only killing the penalty, but also bumping Red Wings players down to the ice with aggressive checks.

The PP ended, as did the 2nd period, with the shots 24-10 Toronto.

Patrick Kane was interviewed at the end of the 2nd period by Prime Video, too:

3RD PERIOD: No good no good:

GOAL: Bafflingly, Detroit won a faceoff in their own zone, Copp tapped the puck up to James van Riemsdyk and the big #21 raced up 2-on-1 against the Leafs’ defender, and van Riemsdyk roofed the puck over Anthony Stolarz to make it 2-0 Detroit.

TORONTO 0, DETROIT 2: van Riemsdyk (1) from Copp (1) at 4:25 3rd period.

SOMEHOW, Auston Matthews was stopped TWICE on a breakaway by Cam Talbot at 5:20 of the 3rd…

GOAL: Sadly, Sandin Pellikka took the left side wing to try and clear, Simon Edvinsson was alone in front of the goaltender, and Bobby McMann took a bouncing turnover and got it to Matthew Knies, who jabbed the puck past Talbot to make it 2-1.

TORONTO 1, DETROIT 2. Knies (1) from McMann (1) at 7:29 3rd.

PENALTY: Dylan Larkin got called for a very weak high-stick on Oliver Ekman-Larsson at 10:39 of the 3rd period, affording Toronto a crucial 2nd power play.

GOAL: Axel Sandin Pellikka surrendered the puck to Matthews, Knies raced down low and centered the puck, Matthews was in the crease with Talbot, and Calle Jarnkrok roofed a shot through Talbot to tie the game 2-2 at 13:42.

TORONTO 2, DETROIT 2. Jarnkrok (3) from Knies (2) at 13:42 3rd period.

PENALTY: At 14:59 of the 2nd, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was called for high-sticking Dylan Larkin, but Larkin was called for “unsportsmanlike conduct, embellishment.”

GOAL: Detroit killed the penalty, and Emmitt Finnie blocked a Leaf clearing attempt, sent it back to Ben Chiarot, Stolarz made the stop but the puck went off Auston Matthews’ skate to Mason Appleton, who fell over as he shot the 3-2 goal with 45 seconds remaining:

TORONTO 2, DETROIT 3: Appleton (1) from Chiarot (1) and Finnie (2) at 19:45 3rd period.

STATISTICS: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

One thought on “Red Wings-Maple Leafs Tweetcap: stolen holiday”

  1. Hope Raymond is OK, but it feels great to win back to back games against the Leafs.

    And I loved Mickey’s call on the James van Riemsdyk goal.

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