Leafs jump out early in win vs. Wings
TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs scored four goals on their first five shots and went on to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Nazem Kadri, Zach Hyman, Auston Matthews, Connor Brown, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander each scored a goal for the Maple Leafs (6-1-0), who have won three straight.
Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Tatar and Jonathan Ericsson scored for the Red Wings (4-3-0), who have lost two in a row. Nick Jensen added three assists for Detroit.
Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard allowed three goals on four shots before being replaced by Petr Mrazek, who stopped 19 of 21.
Toronto goaltender Curtis McElhinney made 30 saves in his first game of the season.
The Maple Leafs had only five shots in the first period but scored on four of them to lead 4-1.
They struck for their first two goals 43 seconds apart.
Kadri roofed a wrist shot from the left circle at 5:56 for his fourth goal of the season and Hyman notched No. 3, deflecting a shot by Rielly, who earned his 100th career assist.
Zetterberg scored on the wrap-around at 9:09 of the first, his fourth goal of the season, to cut the lead in half.
Toronto led 3-1 after the sixth goal of the season by Matthews, a shot from the left circle at 15:46 of the first.
Mrazek replaced Howard and allowed Brown's third goal of the season 40 seconds later, the fastest two goals this season by Toronto.
Tatar scored his first goal of the season and No. 100 in his career on a rebound at 7:02 of the second period with the teams playing with four skaters aside and Ericsson got his first of the season 1:34 later to reduce Toronto's lead to 4-3.
Toronto regained a two-goal margin at 12:57 of the second on Rielly's first goal of the season on the power play.
Nylander scored his second goal of the season into an empty net at 16:52 of the third period.
NOTES: Toronto C Patrick Marleau played in his 1,500th NHL game Wednesday. ... After Toronto G Frederik Andersen recorded his first shutout of the season Tuesday in the 2-0 victory over the Washington Capitals, G Curtis McElhinney started Wednesday, his first appearance this season for the Maple Leafs. ... Toronto C Dominic Moore and D Calle Rosen were replaced in the lineup by C Eric Fehr and D Andreas Borgman for the game Wednesday. ... Red Wings D Danny DeKeyser (ankle) missed his fourth straight game. He resumed skating Wednesday, but could be out for one or two more weeks. ... Detroit is home to Washington on Friday while Toronto visits the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.