Early barrage lifts Leafs over Wings
TORONTO — Curtis McElhinney made 29 saves in his season debut and the Toronto Maple Leafs scored four times in the first period in a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.
Starting in place of Frederik Andersen, McElhinney stopped 14 shots in the third period to hold off the Red Wings.
Nazem Kadri, Zach Hyman, Auston Matthews, Connor Brown, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander scored to help Toronto improve to an NHL-best 6-1-0. The Maple Leafs were coming off a 2-0 victory at Washington on Tuesday night.
Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Tatar and Jonathan Ericsson scored for the Red Wings, and Nick Jensen had three assists.
Jimmy Howard gave up three goals on four shots before getting yanked in favor of Petr Mrazek late in the first period.
Toronto scored on its first two shots and four of its first five.
The Maple Leafs opened the scoring after catching the Red Wings on a bad line change. Kadri took a long pass from Ron Hainsey, walked in and beat Howard over the blocker at 5:56. Hyman scored 44 seconds later, tipping Rielly’s shot past Howard.
Matthews chased Howard from the Wings net with 4:14 to play in the first, snapping a shot past him from almost the exact same spot Kadri did to open the scoring. Mrazek didn’t fare any better, with Brown beating him through a screen on the first shot he faced — 40 seconds after Matthews’ goal to give Toronto a 4-1 advantage. Jaden Schwartz had his third career hat trick to help St. Louis beat Chicago at home. Schwartz has four goals and six assists this season and has at least one point in six of the Blues’ first seven games. Duncan Keith and Ryan Hartman had late goals for Blackhawks, and Corey Crawford made 28 saves. Former NHL agent Stacey McAlpine was charged with fraud in a case involving former Ottawa Senators players Dany Heatley and Chris Phillips. Winnipeg police said the 54-year-old McAlpine bilked Heatley and Phillips out of $12 million.