Maple Leafs defeat Red Wings to end losing streak

DETROIT -- Ilya Mikheyev had a goal and an assist, and the Toronto Maple Leafs ended a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

"I think it just came down to working harder," said Toronto defenseman Jake Muzzin, who had a goal and was plus-3. "We came out with the right attitude and we did a lot of good work."
Dmytro Timashov (two assists) and Nicholas Shore (goal, assist), each a healthy scratch the past two games, had two points, and Frederik Andersen made 25 saves for Toronto (3-2-1).
WATCH: [All Maple Leafs vs. Red Wings highlights]
"I thought [Timashov] had a heck of a game," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "He was fast, he was a strong and he was physical. Setting up the two goals was almost a bonus, but he was really good."
Jacob de la Rose had a goal and an assist, Justin Abdelkader had two assists, and Jimmy Howard made 36 saves for Detroit (3-2-0).
"I don't think we played our best tonight," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "The first period was pretty even, but there were long stretches in the second period where we couldn't get out of our end. That leads to some tired legs."
De la Rose gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 3:44 of the first period, scoring with a backhand while diving across the crease following a rebound in front.
"We know what we have to do to be successful as a line," de la Rose said. "We're not the most skilled guys on the team, but if we play the right way, we're going to get chances."
Shore scored with a backhand from the slot to tie the game 1-1 at 9:57.

Mikheyev gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead at 19:30 of the second period when he beat Howard to a stretch pass from Kasperi Kapanen at the top of the left face-off circle before scoring into an open net.
"I saw the puck get between the defensemen, so I knew I had a chance," Mikheyev said. "It's a 50-50 play, and I saw the goalie coming, so I just tried to get to the puck and get around him."
Alex Kerfoot tapped in a rebound at 9:11 of the third to put Toronto ahead 3-1, but Darren Helm scored 24 seconds later to cut it to 3-2.

Muzzin made it 4-2 at 13:34, finishing a cross-ice pass from Timashov for his first goal of the season.
"When I gave him the puck, I was expecting him to take the one-timer," Muzzin said. "But he made a great play. He had the patience to wait for me to get into position and gave it back to me."
Trevor Moore scored an empty-net goal at 17:47 to extend the lead to 5-2.
"[Our bottom six forwards were] good," Babcock said. "We started the fourth line, I'd guess you'd call it, almost every time in the D zone and they were winning draws and getting the puck into the offensive zone. The [third] line has been getting better every game."

They said it

"I thought they were great on both ends of the ice. They were giving me open lanes and taking care of the puck in our end, and they were playing good, heavy shifts at the other end and creating chances. That puts a lot of wear and tear on the forwards for the other team." -- Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen on the play of their third and fourth lines
"We have seen what the de la Rose line has been doing in the last three games. That's why we started them in Montreal and that's why we started them again tonight. Abdelkader and de la Rose are both big men who can go head-to-head with [Auston] Matthews. They are playing big, strong hockey and creating chances in the offensive end." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

Need to know

It was the first multipoint game in the NHL for Timashov, who was playing his third game. … Detroit's second line of Andreas Athanasiou, Luke Glendening and Taro Hirose combined for two shots and had a minus-10 rating.

What's next

Maple Leafs: Host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)
Red Wings:At the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; SN1, FS-D, NHL.TV)