Leafs looking way up at Wings in Atlantic Division race
The Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs enter their matchup on Sunday at the opposite ends of the Atlantic Division spectrum.
Host Detroit holds a tenuous lead in the division, while Toronto resides in the cellar. Both teams will come into the contest on short rest.
The Red Wings lost 5-2 on the road to Carolina on Saturday night. Detroit held a 1-0 lead after the first period, but the Hurricanes scored three unanswered goals in the second. The Red Wings. who had won eight of their last 10 games, pulled within one on Andrew Copp's power-play goal early in the third but couldn't finish the comeback.
"One team had legs, (the Hurricanes) had plenty of jump. They won races to pucks. They really overwhelmed us for two periods," Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. "We found our legs a little bit in the third, but they're a tough team to come back against. Didn't do much in the first 40 and not enough at the end."
Cam Talbot (10-6-2, 3.00 goals-against average, .886 save percentage) is likely to start in goal on Sunday after John Gibson made 33 saves against Carolina. Talbot ended a personal six-game losing streak when he made 31 saves in a 3-2 overtime victory against Washington last Sunday.
"We were coming off three days of rest. We didn't skate real well tonight," McLellan said. "Toronto played, they're just finishing up, too. We're both traveling to Detroit. We have zero excuses that we can lean on. Based on the way our guys skated in the third, I hope we can carry that over to our game against Toronto tomorrow."
The Maple Leafs won a 7-5 thriller at home over Ottawa on Saturday. Toronto entered the third period with a 5-2 advantage, but the Senators scored twice in the first 5:07 of the third. Matthew Knies soon scored his second goal of the game to give the Maple Leafs some breathing room.
Ottawa once again pulled within a goal before John Tavares' empty-netter clinched Toronto's victory.
Auston Matthews had a goal and two assists and Max Domi contributed three assists, but it wasn't all roses for the Maple Leafs.
"You knew coming in, it's a divisional opponent, two teams that don't really like each other much," Matthews said. "Obviously the history, especially with the playoffs from last year. So it was an emotional game, passionate game, and it was going to take until the last second, the last buzzer to get the job done."
Forward William Nylander departed during the second period due to a lower-body injury. Nylander scored his 14th goal on a power play during the first period.
Joseph Woll made 26 saves. Dennis Hildeby (2-5-3, 2.96 GAA, .911 save percentage) could get the nod Sunday in the second game of a back-to-back.
Detroit collected back-to-back victories over Toronto in mid-October. Lucas Raymond led the Red Wings to a 6-3 win with two goals, and Mason Appleton's tiebreaking goal in the final minute gave Detroit a 3-2 victory in the rematch.
They'll finish off the season series in Toronto on Jan. 21.