CENTRE GAME
Johnsson scores twice as Toronto fires season-high 54 shots
It was a laugher in Detroit, the kind of game the Maple Leafs could use a few more of, and the kind of game that had eluded them this season under Mike Babcock.
The Leafs scored early and often, beating the Detroit Red Wings 6-0 Wednesday while running new coach Sheldon Keefe’s record to 3-0 and keeping a sizable Leafs Nation presence at Little Caesars Arena happy.
“We want to be a team that plays with the lead, and we need to be able to,” Keefe told reporters in Detroit after the game. “I thought we did a good job of that.”
The freewheeling Leafs took advantage of a reeling Wings squad that had lost top scorer Anthony Mantha to injury and had trouble finding a healthy goalie.
Andreas Johnsson scored twice and added an assist on an evening when the goals were spread around.
William Nylander, John Tavares, Tyson Barrie and Travis Dermott also scored for the Leafs, who played the kind of game they’ve been building toward since Keefe took over the reins.
They are all about controlling the puck, controlling the play, letting the defence join the offence, and creating chances.
“That was a good game for us,” Barrie said. “We played our system and had a lot of fun out there. You can see we spent a lot of time in the (offensive) zone and kind of carried that theme throughout the game, so that was fun to be a part of.”
And they’re back in a playoff spot, third in the Atlantic, though the teams chasing them, notably Montreal and Tampa Bay, have games in hand.
“It’s better than the alternative,” Keefe said. “I feel good about how things are, how things have gone. The players have responded beautifully. They played extremely well and certainly deserve all the credit here.”
Frederik Andersen: The Leafs goalie got his first shutout of the season, stopping 25 shots in all. But he was more impressed with his teammates.
“You see how much the skill shows,” he said. “I think guys are playing really free and enjoying it a lot and making really good plays.
“I think the more we can have the puck, the better. Teams get tired out … you saw we come out hot and score a bunch of goals. I think it’s hard to defend when you have that much skill and move (the puck) around that much.”
Goaltender search: The Leafs were up 3-0 by the midway mark of the first period and the Red Wings were looking for a goalie. Quite literally. Starter Jimmy Howard had been injured moments before Tavares’s goal and went to the room right after the red light went on.
And Jonathan Bernier, who had been slated to start, was not on the bench, apparently suffering from the flu. The game took an elongated break as Bernier was located and got his equipment on.
The Leafs showed no sympathy, firing a season-high 54 shots at the two goalies.
Quick start: The Leafs scored first for just the seventh time this season, but for the second time in three tries under Keefe.
Big second: Nylander scored early in the second and was pivotal on the first of Johnsson’s goals, digging at the puck near the goal line. Ultimately Nylander’s stick pushed Johnsson’s skate, which had the puck on other side of it.
“I didn’t know it (the puck) was there,” Johnsson said. “The defenceman came and hooked me up and I was just standing just trying to not fall down. I didn’t even know the puck was by my skate.”
It looked like a kicking motion on Johnsson’s part, which would make it disallowable, but the video review showed how Nylander was really responsible.
“(Nylander) is telling me he scored the goal but I don’t know if he even touched the puck at all,” Johnsson said.
Johnsson then batted a puck out of the air for a 6-0 second period lead.
Up next: Friday at Buffalo, 4 p.m.