Five Takeaways - Leafs vs. Red Wings - 03/24/18

1. Buds start strong, jump out to first lead on Kapanen goal. The Leafs were looking to extend their team-record home win streak to 13 games, and they began the night strongly, outshooting the Red Wings 15-11 and dominating the quality scoring opportunities. Veteran netminder Jimmy Howard made several solid saves to keep his team in the contest early on, but Toronto kept coming at him in waves, and at 14:30 of the opening frame, they finally got through: as winger James van Riemsdyk battled a couple of Detroit's defenders in front of Howard, centre Tyler Bozak picked up a loose puck, moved to Howard's left, and slid the puck back across to winger Kasperi Kapanen, who fired it in for his seventh goal of the year and a 1-0 Buds lead.

The goal was Kapanen's third in his last seven games, and the assist on the marker gave van Riemsdyk 11 points in his last six games. And although the Leafs couldn't get another one past Howard prior to the first intermission, Toronto looked hungry, focused and in a good position to post their second straight victory and their sixth win in their last seven matches.

2. Wings come out with more vigour in second, score twice to take lead midway through frame. The Wings came out with a more robust game in the second and outshot Toronto 13-3 in the first 11 minutes of the frame and 19-8 overall in the period. And the visitors evened the score at the 4:32 mark when forward Dylan Larkin split Toronto's defenders and snapped a shot past goaltender Frederik Andersen for his 12th goal of the year.

Detroit then took their first lead of the game at 9:36 of the second on winger Tyler Bertuzzi's third goal of the season. With Andersen screened, Bertuzzi deflected a shot from the point by Wings blueliner Danny DeKeyser, and as the halfway point of regulation time passed, the Leafs found themselves trailing ad fending off a consistent Wings attack in the Toronto zone.

3. Brown evens score for Buds as Rielly continues piling up points.After the Wings pushed ahead, Toronto's game picked up speed and precision in the latter quarter of the second period, and the Leafs evened the score with 5:41 left before the second intermission when winger Connor Brown netted his 14th goal of the year. Brown deflected the point shot of D-man Travis Dermott through traffic and past Howard, giving him his first goal since Feb. 17 and his third point in his past five games.

Meanwhile, blueliner Morgan Rielly picked up the secondary assist on the goal, and that point made it 11 points in his past eight games. Rielly has been better and better this year at jumping into the rush and asserting himself as an offensive presence, and his assist pushed his season points total to 48 - 12 points better than his previous career-high of 36 in 2015-16.

4. Wings retake lead early in third, but Nylander and Matthews team up to tie it on dazzling passing play.Detroit pressured the Buds early in the final regulation period and got the go-ahead goal at the 5:00 mark on Frans Nielsen's 15th of the season - a goal that initially was called off by the on-ice officials, but that turned into a good goal when the Wings challenged the goalie interference call.

However, that turn of events didn't stop the Leafs from pushing back. Two minutes and 29 seconds after Nielsen made it 3-2, Buds winger William Nylander's forecheck deep in Detroit's zone led to him picking up the puck, passing it to linemate Auston Matthews directly in front of the Wings' net, and then getting it back from Matthews to the right side of Howard before firing it into the top of the net and tying the game. Nylander's goal was his 17th of the year, his second goal in as many games, and his third in four games. More crucially, it energized the Buds and the Air Canada Centre throng, and set up a thrilling end to the tilt.

5. Marleau and Kadri combine to produce game-winner as Leafs' home win streak continues. The visitors gave the Leafs a tough time, but Toronto picked up momentum as the third period unfolded, and Howard's heroics in net couldn't stop the Buds from registering the game-winner with 7:26 left in the frame. Centre Nazem Kadri got Toronto's fourth goal of the night when he finished off a terrific 2-on-1 rush that began when linemate Patrick Marleau picked up the puck at Detroit's blueline, then perfectly flipped a backhand pass to Kadri, who banged it into the open net for his 29th goal of the season.

From there, the Leafs held on to lock up their 45th win of the season. Toronto can increase their consecutive home win record to 14 in a row Monday when the Buffalo Sabres come to town. And although this game likely wasn't ideal from the perspective of Buds head coach Mike Babcock, he'll be happy to take the two points and build on it.