Tavares, Maple Leafs hold off Red Wings

TORONTO --John Tavares had a goal and two assists for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who held off the Detroit Red Wings for a 5-4 win at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

"The win should feel a little better than it does," Tavares said. "As important as the two points are, obviously we want to fix the recipe a little bit in terms of how we finished off in the third period. We didn't dictate the game. Getting a two-goal lead twice, we didn't really put them away. Overall though, some good steps taken in certain areas and a big two points."
Jake Muzzin and Alex Kerfoot each had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (4-4-1), who have won consecutive games for the first time this season. Petr Mrazek made 27 saves in his first start since Oct. 14 because of a groin injury.
"Mixed emotions (on the game)," Muzzin said. "We'll take the win. We did a lot of good things, but we definitely have to tighten some things up and play better with the lead, that's for sure."
Joe Veleno and Filip Zadina each had a goal and an assist, and Thomas Greiss made 33 saves for the Red Wings (4-3-2), who are 0-2-0 this season without Tyler Bertuzzi, who did not play because he is unvaccinated against COVID-19.
Veleno, who was recalled from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League Friday night to replace Bertuzzi, drove to Detroit early Saturday morning and met up with Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman, who then drove Veleno to Toronto.
"I was a little bit shy and I really didn't know what to talk about a lot," Veleno said. "He made up most of the conversation. Once I got to spend a little time with him in the car I got a little more comfortable. He's a really good person and really easy to talk to, so that made the drive fairly easy. … It definitely means a lot to drive with Steve Yzerman. I guess it's a story I can tell in the future."
Muzzin scored with 14 seconds remaining in the first period to put Toronto ahead 1-0. It was the first goal scored by a Maple Leafs defenseman this season.

Zadina tied it 1-1 at 8:19 of the second period, scoring glove side on Mrazek on the power play 51 seconds after Pierre Engvall hit the post on a breakaway.
Michael Bunting made it 2-1 with 18 seconds left in the second when he redirected a slap pass from Jason Spezza at the right hash marks on the power play.
The goal ended an 0-for-17 stretch for Toronto with the man-advantage dating to Oct. 14.
"Spezza has great vision. He found me and it was pretty easy just to put two hands on my stick and just tip it in," Bunting said. "Any time we get out there on the power play, we at least want to build some energy and be able to put a puck in the net. That builds even more energy, so we were pretty happy about that."
Kerfoot scored 17 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1 when he one-timed a pass from Tavares, who was behind the net.

Veleno cut it to 3-2 at 1:36, but Tavares made it 4-2 at 7:47 with a one-timer off a pass from Kerfoot on a 2-on-1.
"We didn't go away, but we don't want to be just close," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "We were too loose defensively."
After Vladislav Namestnikov again cut the lead to 4-3 at 10:11, Mitchell Marner intercepted a pass by Nick Leddy and tucked the puck into an open net for his first of the season to make it 5-3 at 17:55.
"Huge for [Marner]," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Two really strong games now in a row for him where I thought he's been really dominant with the puck, confident and comfortable. He's done a nice job to help his linemates come alive. It's one thing to do that, but it's another thing to see a zero beside your name, so for him to get that tonight was big. Those are the types of goals that seem to go in and then things seem to fall in place."
Filip Hronek made it 5-4 at 19:31 with Greiss pulled for the extra attacker. Danny DeKeyser then had a chance to tie it with one second remaining, but his backhand was stopped by Mrazek.
"It's hard to get wins in this League, (so) we'll take them whenever we can," Kerfoot said. "We're building towards something, but we are not there yet and that showed tonight. It was just not clean enough, gave up too many chances. Getting a goal going into the third period, we'd like to close the game out a little better than that."