Leafs come back to top Wings in shootout

DETROIT, Mich. - Sixty-five minutes would not be enough between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs in Detroit Wednesday night.

But Mike Santorelli's wrister from twenty feet out on the final attempt in the shootout would clinch an extra point for the visiting Leafs, whose 2-1 decision over Detroit gives them their seventh win out of nine games.

And put the axe to the Wings' three-game winning streak.

Pavel Datsyuk notched Detroit's only strike in the shootout, a slicing backhander from nine feet, but Gustav Nyquist would shoot high and Tomas Tatar found only James Reimer's pad.

Toronto secures the two points despite being outshot 42-19 from a Red Wings side that had young Reimer under attack most of the evening, as Detroit enjoyed a 40-16 shooting advantage through sixty minutes. 

"They played really hard," Reimer said after of his opponents, "but we were poised. We battled hard, and we were lucky enough to get the win."

He was brilliant in net, stopping 41-of-42 for Toronto (16-9-3), including a third period in which he stopped every one of 18 shots to the 6 his foe Jimmy Howard faced.

Despite that lowly number, Detroit's net-minder would still let one through, and at the worst possible time.

Largely unharassed in that period, Howard allowed the tying goal at 5:09, when Phil Kessel put himself on the scoresheet with his 15th on the season.

James van Riemsdyk relieved his goalie of the Red Wings' tyranny momentarily, causing a turnover in the neutral zone and skating himself along the far boards.

His pass landed right on Kessel's stick inside the crease despite his being blanketed by Detroit's stalwart defenders, bouncing off the tape past Howard's left pad. 

Kessel's goal gave the right-winger his 29th point, a Maple Leafs-best. 

Reimer would charge from his own net to stop a daring chance from Darren Helm seconds later.

The Leafs nearly took the two points in the overtime session when a fluttering shot danced through Jimmy Howard's legs. It would have slid over the line were Gustav Nyquist not there to flick it out in time.

After a scoreless opening period, the middle framed looked to be the prelude to an inevitable Red Wings victory as the hosts put James Reimer on high alert through the first seven minutes of that period.

Detroit (17-6-6) fired six shots to Toronto's none in that time, and it wasn't until with 12 minutes left that Jake Gardiner dared to try Howard from the circle.

The Wings outshot the Leafs 22-10 in that period, an advantage that produced the result at 17:52, when Nyquist fired his 13th on the year.

It began when Henrik Zetterberg held the puck in the right circle. His darting pass to Tomas Jurco in stride to Reimer's right nearly produced the score, but Jurco's shot bounced off the goalie's chest.

And into the path of Nyquist, who was harassing Reimer in the crease. He spun out of a tackle with Morgan Rielly and flicked the easy backhander when the goalie left the right side open.

Zetterberg's work on the goal gave him his 16th point in 13 meetings with the Maple Leafs, against whom Detroit will face again in three days in Toronto.