TORONTO (AP) — Dylan Larkin scored on a power play 41 seconds into overtime and the Detroit Red Wings overcame Auston Matthews’ 69th goal of the season to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Saturday night.
Alex DeBrincat scored twice, David Perron had a goal and an assist, Simon Edvinsson also scored and J.T. Compher had two assists for Detroit, which led 4-1 after one period. James Reimer stopped 32 shots against his former team in his 500th NHL game.
Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists, John Tavares and Nick Robertson also scored, and Morgan Rielly had two assists for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov finished with 28 saves.
Matthews, who has scored 10 times in his last eight games, moved one away from becoming the first to player to hit 70 goals in a season in more than 30 years. He matched Mario Lemieux’s total of 69 in the 1995-96 season.
In the extra period, Larkin redirected a shot by Patrick Kane past Samsonov with Max Domi off for high-sticking.
Detroit began the day one point behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins were facing Boston on Saturdawy night. Toronto’s loss locked the Maple Leafs into the Atlantic Division’s No. 3 spot with two road games left on their schedule.
Matthews had a couple of more chances on a late power play, and Samsonov tad to stand tall on a Detroit man advantage late in regulation.
The crowd’s anticipation grew every time Matthews touched the puck in search of No. 70 with the score tied 4-4 before Samsonov, who had a rough opening 20 minutes, stopped Lucas Raymond in close with 9 minutes left in regulation.
Down 4-1 after an ugly opening 20 minutes, Robertson scored his 14th at 9:04 of the second before Kane took a double-minor for high-sticking.
That set the stage for Matthews, who hit the post in the first, to fire No. 69 past Reimer before emphatically punching the air at 10:23 inside a deafening Scotiabank Arena.
The sniper nearly got his 70th moments later on a break, but Reimer closed his pads at the last second.
The Maple Leafs got even withy 2:38 left in the middle period when Tavares snapped his 26th as Toronto erased a three-goal deficit in just over eight minutes against Reimer, who was drafted by Toronto in 2006 and played for the Maple Leafs from 2010-16.
Marner opened the scoring on a power play at 8:35 of the first when he buried his 26th of the season. William Nylander picked up the primary assist to snap an eight-game point drought.
Detroit tied it 1:27 later on a 2-on-1 when DeBrincat scored his 25th.
The Red Wings pushed ahead with 6:21 left in the period when Edvinsson finished off a give-and-go with Perron for his first.
DeBrincat made it 3-1 on a power play at 17:37 after Samsonov kicked a big rebound right onto the winger’s stick for his second of the night.
Perron then put Detroit up three with less than 20 seconds left in the period when he snuck his 16th past Samsonov at the near post.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Host Montreal on Monday night in their regular season home finale.
Maple Leafs: At Florida on Tuesday night to open a season-ending two-game trip.
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