In Toronto, the visiting Detroit Red Wings blew a 4-1 lead on Saturday night when the Maple Leafs hit for three goals in the middle frame to tie the game, 4-4.
Dylan Larkin rescued the Red Wings’ season, for now, when he scored off the power play with 41 seconds gone in the extra session to give the Wings a 5-4 win.
“That’s one of the biggest of my career and I’m hoping this year to have some more big goals,” Larkin said. “You can’t feel any better. I knew Kane was going to look for that play, and I just had to have my stick on the ice and he was going to hit it. I didn’t even see it go in… To see all the boys rush over, man, what a feeling.”
The Red Wings moved to 39-32-9, they are tied with the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
James Reimer made 32 saves in the win.
“It’s special. Nights like this, you want to play well and you want to win and it just makes it that much more special,” Reimer said.
In the first period, the Maple Leafs grabbed a 1-0 lead on a power play marker form Mitchell Marner at 8:35.
Detroit replied with a four spot.
Alex DeBrincat started the outburst at 10:02, scoring off an odd man rush. for a 1-1 tie.
Simon Edvinsson put the Red Wings in front, 2-1, at 13:39, scoring from the left circle.
DeBrincat collected a double at 17:37, scoring off the power play for a 3-1 lead to Detroit.
“We’ve been fighting for our lives here and the sacrifice, the attitude of the guys has been unbelievable and we got rewarded tonight for all the hard work we’ve done the last stretch here where we haven’t been getting rewarded,” Larkin said.
David Perron expanded the advantage to 4-1 with 19 seconds left in the first.
“We’ve been fighting for our lives here and the sacrifice, the attitude of the guys has been unbelievable and we got rewarded tonight for all the hard work we’ve done the last stretch here where we haven’t been getting rewarded,” Larkin said.
The Maple Leafs dropped to 46-24-10.
In the middle frame, the Maple Leafs finally got their act together, scoring three times to get even.
“We just started playing more direct,” the Leafs Auston Marner said. “That team has got a lot of firepower throughout their lineup. You [mess] around with the puck in front of them and they can make serious plays… They have very active defense that can find holes too, and we didn’t do that very well in the first covering that. I thought going forward we did a much better job.”
Nicholas Robertson closed the gap to 4-2 at at 9:04 with a shot from the left circle.
Matthews scored his 69th of the campaign at 10:23, scoring off the power play to trim the deficit to 4-3
“He asked me for [a goal] during the game so I gave it to him, but he didn’t ask for two,” Reimer joked
Toronto’s John Tavares tied the game, 4-4, at 17:22 .
“The players decided it was important,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “That’s it. We know how to play. When we play, we show what we are capable of.”
Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves in the loss.
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