Matthews clips Wings with game winner
LEAFS 3, RED WINGS 2
No surprise that it was Auston Matthews who scored the winner for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night.
Matthews has been giving it to the Detroit Red Wings since his initial days in the NHL.
When Matthews roofed a shot over goalie Petr Mrazek with 31 seconds remaining in the third period at Little Caesars Arena, it was his seventh goal in six career games against Detroit.
With the 3-2 win, the Leafs improved to 6-4-1 in the second game of back-to-back sets, this after they were 6-11-1 last season.
“We’re better,” coach Mike Babcock said during his media availability two hours before the game. “We have better players, we’re older, we’re a better team. You have a better chance.”
What about the work of Curtis McElhinney?
“He has done a good job since he’s been here. He is just a good man who helps Freddie, does not get in the way of what Freddie is trying to do, is a good pro to our guys, makes our guys better and when it’s his turn, he is ready to go. I can’t say enough about that,” said Babcock.
The Wings tied the game 2-2 at 9:17 of the third period when Henrik Zetterberg found a hiding spot behind the Leafs defence and tapped a pass from Gustav Nyquist into an open net behind McElhinney. No Leaf was aware of Zetterberg, including the goaltender. The tying goal, only the eighth of the season for the Wings’ captain, came not long after Mrazek stopped Zach Hyman on a breakaway. And not long after the goal, the Leafs’ Leo Komarov missed an open net after Kasperi Kapanen fed him on a 2-on-1.