Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his 36th goal of the season against the Minnesota Wild at Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 24, 2022, in Toronto. The Maple Leafs defeated the Wild 3-1.Claus Andersen/Getty Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to build some much-needed momentum when they pay a visit to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
Auston Matthews and Petr Mrazek led Toronto past Minnesota 3-1 on Thursday to end a three-game losing streak. Matthews scored twice, including the go-ahead goal midway through the third period to give him a league-high 36 goals. Mrazek had 29 saves.
“There wasn’t a whole lot going on out there offensively for both teams, it was a pretty structured game,” Matthews said. “I thought Mrazek made some pretty incredible saves [Thursday] when we had breakdowns and we capitalized on a couple chances. So it was nice to get back in the win column. We just want to keep this moving and going.”
Mrazek, who began his career in Detroit, is now 7-4-0 this season. Toronto had allowed four or more goals during its losing streak, with Jack Campbell in goal for two of the three defeats.
“I thought it was really solid and disciplined,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I thought we were committed to it. It was a very low-event hockey game, not the most exciting game for sure. Our guys just stayed committed to it, trying to find ways to crack through offensively.
“Give Minnesota credit for how they competed and how they played, but we’ve been challenging our guys to be more committed defensively and more focused on it.”
Toronto has 70 points and currently sits third in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs are still in the running for the top seed in the Eastern Conference if they can put together a powerful finish.
Matthews, who is on pace to surpass his career high of 47 goals, has 11 goals in his past 11 games.
“He finds a way to come through with huge goals at big times in the game, and he’s done that all season, and you see the commitment defensively,” Keefe said.
The Red Wings lost 5-2 to Colorado at home on Wednesday. The Avalanche scored two first-period goals and the Wings couldn’t catch up.
“Our start wasn’t great,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “We didn’t get going until probably two-thirds of the way through the period. We felt we were going to get chances, so certainly it didn’t seem it [the lead] was insurmountable.”
The Red Wings are at the .500 mark and need to go on a hot streak to keep their playoff hopes alive.
“We need to get back into a groove and build confidence game in and game out,” centre Dylan Larkin said.
Toronto won the first two meetings with Detroit, 5-4 on Oct. 30 and 7-4 on Jan. 29, when the Leafs erupted for five third-period goals.
“We have to play good hockey, [and] do it for 60 [minutes],” Blashill said. “Obviously last time we played Toronto, we outplayed them for a good period of time, but we didn’t finish the job. We’re going to have to make sure we find a way to give up less goals. You can’t try to outscore these teams. We have to defend better in those situations.”