No Matthews and no Connor Dewar yet tonight, likely tomorrow for Dewar. Justin Holl in for the Wings as was Cam Talbot who was supposed to have the night off.

First Period

Nick Robertson scored a beauty on a setup from Bobby McMann, but it was called back on goalie interference.

Leafs got the first power play on an interference call that interfered with a fairly dull back and forth game with very limited shooting.

Blink and you'd have missed it. Mitch Marner managed to make the play and score it himself.

Is the power play fixed? Or is it just benefiting from some situations that don't require a lot of thinking? Hope is for fixed. This goal was later credited to John Tavares. And then later given back to Marner.

Marner missed a wide open net to make it 2-0. He was, once again, on fire in this game, though.

Leafs took a weird penalty, called interference when McMann very slightly tapped a loose stick out of his way. This was a technically true and totally cheeseball call. The refs even get the wrong guy at first.

Most of the power play rolled over to the next period.

The second half of the period was a lot more interesting than the first with a final score of 1-0 Leafs.

That's a very "let's take turns with the puck" chart.

Second Period

The first half of the second was over quick with no whistles and not a great deal of real action.

John Tavares took a penalty after a turnover, and the Wings got to try their hot power play again.

Gotta stay out of the box, Leafs.

Detroit took a too many men penalty almost immediately.

Okay maybe it is fixed.

Leafs take the lead back on the power play.

And then the Leafs took another penalty right away. Simon Benoit for slashing. Not quite cheeseball, but there was a hint of cheddar in the air. The Red Wings second unit got quite a bit of time and illustrated why they don't usually.

An extremely low-event period at five-on-five livened up a little by two power play goals. Leafs led 2-1.

Even with the power play shooting included, the Wings look very bad. Anthony Stolarz didn't seemed very stressed.

Third Period

Leafs got pinned and then they returned the favour. After nearly two minutes with the Red Wings hemmed in, the fourth line comes out. This isn't the first time I've wondered where the offensive lines are when opportunities present themselves.

Robertson, McMann and Holmberg were very good, and played the kind of game you want from them against weak competition. That's how you rest your top players.

Anthony Stolarz. No stick, no blocker, got the puck with his bare hand. Save of the game, obviously.

Tavares with the ENG after he stole the puck from three Red Wings.

Leafs held on against a decent Detroit push late to win it 3-1.

Mitch Marner was the best player on the ice again, though.

It's good to see the Leafs win one, even if they do it by being boring on purpose. See you tomorrow night for the Montréal Canadiens.

Game Coverage