[ad_1]
DETROIT (AP) – Auston Matthews heard from the list of NHL greats he joined by scoring nine times in the first five games of the season.
Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy are the only other players in the league history.
"Nice," Matthews said after scoring twice for a league-leading nine goals to help Toronto beat Detroit 5-3 Thursday night.
Matthews is the third player in history.
"He had a fast start last year, too, unfortunately he got injured," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. "He's a big man, he's really working hard on his body, he's working hard on his skating and all parts of his game, and he's better."
Morgan Rielly had a goal and an assist, giving him 12 points to surpass Bobby Orr's strong start during the 1973-74 season. Among defensemen, Rielly trails only Harry Cameron, who had 15 points in the Toronto Arenas' first five games of the 1917-18 season.
"I'm not going to address personal stuff," Rielly said. "I think it's more important to move on."
Nick Jensen gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead midway through the first period and scored a second goal midway through the third to pull them within a goal.
"It's never so sweet when you get the goals but you do not get the win," he said.
Soon after Jensen's second goal, Matthews took advantage of a power play by scoring his second goal of the game.
Dylan Larkin with Dylan Larkin scored 6:04 left in the game. The Red Wings pulled Jimmy Howard to add an extra skater, Ron Hainsey goal scored an empty-net goal to seal the win.
"I did not like the third," said Babcock, a Detroit coach trainer. "We did not take care of the puck as we did not keep our foot on the gas."
Frederik Andersen made 26 saves and Mitch Marner had a goal for the Maple Leafs.
Howard had 30 stops for the rebuilding of Red Wings, who have lost their first games for the first time since 1980.
"Bits and pieces of the game we did not get done right enough," Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall said.
John Tavares, Atlantic Division-leading Maple Leafs, winners of three straight.
"It's great for all the guys who are doing scoring right now," Babcock said. "It makes you feel good, but it's not really about you, it's not really about you, it's a long way to go. to get a lot better. "
NOTES: Matthews joined Sweeney Schriner (1944-45) and Corb Denneny (1921-22) in their history. … The Red Wings announced before the game they will withdraw Hall of Famer Red Kelly's No. 4 jersey on Feb. 1, 2019, when they host Toronto. Kelly played in Detroit from 1947-60 and for the Maple Leafs from 1960-67. Toronto retired his jersey two years ago. … Jensen has scored three of the six goals in his career against Toronto. The defenseman did not score in 81 games last season and had the following season as a rookie.
UP NEXT
Maple Leafs: Play at Washington on Saturday night.
Red Wings: Play at Boston on Saturday.
___
More NHL AP: https://apnews.com/tag/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
___
Follow Larry Lage on Twitter at https://twitter.com/larrylage
[ad_2]
Source link
