Last game that doesn’t count. Since the Leafs are sitting Jason Spezza in favour of Nick Shore I’ll try and pay attention to him in particular.

Last minute roster change for the Red Wings: Jacob de la Rose replaces Michael Rasmussen.

First period

Andreas Johnsson  scores 29 seconds into the game on a pretty setup by Auston Matthews, barely time to say hello and the Leafs are up 1-0.

Egor Korshkov and Cody Ceci bring the puck in which is not really a sentence I thought I’d write.

William Nylander sets up someone for a bomb of a shot but it gets deflected.

Freddie’s calmly doing his job at the other end of the ice.

Up and down, up and down... maybe someone should pause and take a shot, guys.

Johnsson plays pest as the Red Wings try to reset. They come in offside so I guess he was effective.

Tyson Barrie turns it over in the Leafs zone and Patrik Nemeth is the eventual recipient who shoots it high over the net.

Morgan Rielly and John Tavares combine for a chance.

Back and forth and back and forth... couple battles in the corners.

Barrie tries to get the puck out, the Red Wings keep it in but it turns out ice is slippery and the puck carrier goes for a tumble.

Traffic in front of Jimmy Howard as the Leafs get a few shots towards the net.

Halfway through the period and the Red Wings have one (1) shot on net.

Ilya Mikheyev steals the puck from Mike Green and feeds it to Rielly who goes full speed down the ice to go one on one with Howard, who makes the stop.

Nick Shore sends the puck out of the Leafs zone but it doesn’t make it past the other blue line before it’s heading back the other way.

The officials have to do some repair work on the ice in front of the Leafs bench, so a short pause in the action.

The commentators are saying that Jake Muzzin might have got cut with a skate just above the boot on his previous shift but he’s still on the bench.

Dylan Larkin sets up Anthony Mantha but Freddie’s there. Larkin tries to do it himself, same result.

Ceci grabs the puck, sends it out of the zone and Mikheyev has a clear shot on Howard, but no dice.

Trevor Moore has a chance for a breakaway but he turns to give it to someone else, which may or may not have been a wise choice.

Justin Abdelkader makes Andersen earn his paycheque—fortunately Freddie’s good at his job.

Shore gets the puck into the Red Wings zone for Rielly but nothing doing.

Matthews hands the puck off to Justin Holl for some bizarre reason.

Red Wings manage to avoid icing twice by sending the puck right into Freddie’s crease.

So many shot attempts by the Leafs, Howard must be tired.

Frederik Gauthier gets a shot right on Howard. No goal but in keeping the puck, he got Nemeth to take a hooking penalty. Leafs powerplay.

Muzzin, who had apparently left the bench for treatment, returns and everyone is relieved.

Tavares with an early shot set up by Matthews.

I think the Leafs think there’s less time left in the period than there is, they’ve given up on a few plays when they should have kept going but no damage done and there will be 52 seconds of power play time to start the second period.

Leafs outshooting the Red Wings 13-5

Second period

Matthews gets close to his second point in the game when he grabs a missed shot from Marner with the side of the net open. Mike Green deflects the puck in time.

Tavares feeds Holl, and of course that goes nowhere. I think the point was a give and go but wow did that not happen.

DeKeyser gets a chance on Andersen but Freddie is there.

Rielly and Matthews both get some juic chances on net.

Shore gets a turn but Howard stops him.

Detroit’s a little more effective this period.

Muzzin is sent to the box initially for kneeing  and then changed to tripping on Mike Green. It didn’t really look like either to me, but two officials saw it differently so first penalty kill for Toronto.

First minute of the kill is mostly not spent in the Detroit zone. Shorthanded chance for Mikheyev.

TREVOR MOORE SHORTHANDED BREAKAWAY GOAL. That’s in all caps because what the fuck. 2-0 Leafs.

The few seconds after the penalty kill actually look a lot more like a Detroit power play than it did when the had the advantage.

Marner goes down and it’s  a delayed penalty on Detroit. Madison Bowey eventually heads to the box on a tripping call.

A missed shot by Matthews rings around and out of the zone and the Leafs have some trouble getting the puck back in the Detroit zone.

Woot! Nylander sends a wicked shot past Howard that goes in and out of the net 3-0. The officials have to check on it, it was so fast.

Challenge for offside. Call on the ice stands, we have a goal and Detroit is back on the penalty kill for delay of game.

Marner has a shot that Howard can’t quite keep control of. The puck is bouncing at the side of the net with players poking at it, but it stays out.

4-0 Matthews scores with a shot that looks suspiciously similar to Nylander’s and Johnsson screening Howard. Still got half a game to go, folks.

Mikheyev has another chance, denied again by Howard.

Mantha gets around Muzzin for a shot on net but Andersen shuts the door.

Kapanen’s ability to beat out basically anyone to beat out the icing call is so helpful.

Rielly gets called for interference, Leafs to the kill.

Better power play for Detroit. Mantha sends a shot off the post and out of play.

Leafs clear the puck with a little under a minute left. Muzzin clears it again with Mikheyev following up. Marner’s the next to clear it, and the penalty is over.

Howard out of the goal with Nylander buzzing nearby could have been good for Toronto but nothing came of it.

Alexander Kerfoot goes hopping and Larkin is sent to the box for hooking. Another Leafs power play.

Rielly’s been doing some good work on the power play, specifically at keeping the puck in the zone. Red Wings of course got a shorthanded chance halfway through typing that.

What seems like a million Leafs chances happen at once, including one for Korshkov, and it’s Tavares who finally scores, 5-0 Toronto. So far the new power play works against *checks notes* about half the Detroit Red Wings. Okay, so maybe the jury’s still out.

Gauthier gets a couple of chances but Howard finds the puck.

Final minute of the second period is played in the Leafs zone but mostly along the boards. Two, possibly three shots get to the net.

Leafs outshooting the Red Wings again, 16-6

Third period

Goalie change for Detroit as Howard is replaced by Larsson.

Marner goes to the bench after a hit, apparently he got clipped in the mouth.

Johnsson feeds Nylander for a chance that makes the crowd get loud but doesn’t change the score.

Gravel gets a shot on.

Ceci hits the post.

Matthews is called for slashing. This doesn’t help Detroit any

Mikheyev is having quite a night, if only he could score. Gets another chance on Howard.

Marner shoots wide. Tbh this period has me tuned out a bit.

Another chance for Mikheyev. If he scores tonight I will be so happy for him.

Freddie, Freddie! chants from the crowd as he turns aside another Detroit chance with under four minutes to go.

Detroit outshoots Toronto 5 to 3, total 32 to 16 for the Leafs. Another shutout for Andersen, and the next game, gentlebeings, counts.

Three stars

  1. Auston Matthews
  2. John Tavares
  3. Trevor Moore

Since the regular season is about to start I’m going to put in a quick plug for #hockeyfightsdv and @MOTBLeafs. They’re both initiatives where you pledge money for whatever event you feel like (fifty cents for every Nylander goal, a dime for every day Ben Harpur stays out of the Leafs roster, whatever). #Hockeyfightsdv is designed to raise money for an organization of your choice that fights domestic violence. These days it’s no longer tracked but you’ll see participants post their pledges on twitter and tumblr (mine is here). Money on the Board is specifically to raise money for the MLSE Foundation and is tracked — there’s a randomly-drawn prize for a couple of participants. MOTB also has a couple of designated days throughout the season where you can pledge something for just that game, if that fits your budget better.

If you’ve got a few spare bucks, maybe consider putting them towards one of these causes as you watch the NHL this season.

Game Coverage