Red Wings defeat Maple Leafs to extend point streak to 6

TORONTO -- Andrew Copp scored the go-ahead goal with 1:40 remaining, and the Detroit Red Wings extended their point streak to six with a 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday.

Copp took a pass from Michael Rasmussen, who was below the goal line, and scored blocker side on Ilya Samsonov from the edge of the left circle.

Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings (22-16-5), who are 5-0-1 during their point streak.

Detroit, which was coming off a 5-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, didn't arrive at Scotiabank Arena until about 90 minutes before puck drop.

“Really good win,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “Really unique 24 hours. Obviously, I haven’t experienced 24 hours like that, I don’t think anyone in the League has. Weather, mechanical issues (with the airplane), it was crazy. To show up for a 7 o’clock in the National Hockey League at 6:15 is very unique and unusual, but I thought our guys handled it pretty well. There was things we couldn’t control in the last 24 hours, but the one thing we could control was our effort and execution, and for the most part, a pretty good job by the guys.”

James Reimer, who played his first six NHL seasons with the Maple Leafs from 2010-16, made 28 saves in his first start since Dec. 27.

“Reimer came in tonight and played unbelievable. Best game of the year,” Larkin said. “I know it’s special for him in this building, and we’ve been getting good goaltending. We’ve been good on the penalty kill, but tonight is a different animal with the buy-in and the sacrifice. It was unbelievable.”

Red Wings forward Patrick Kane left the game with a lower-body injury in the first period shortly after taking a hit along the boards from Pontus Holmberg. Lalonde did not have an update after the game other than to say that he did not believe it is related to the hip injury that caused Kane to undergo resurfacing surgery on June 1.

Holmberg and Mitchell Marner scored for the Maple Leafs (21-12-8), who have lost three in a row (0-2-1).

“Not enough offense for us here tonight,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Power plays early in the game, and then throughout that I didn’t think we were sharp enough offensively.

“To me, it’s a (lack) of offensive piece here today, and then late in the game, a pretty simple routine retrieval for the defense, we’ve got all sorts of numbers there, and we give them the puck.”

Samsonov, who was recalled from Toronto of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, made 20 saves in his first start since being placed on waivers on Dec. 31.

“I thought battled his [butt] off,” Keefe said. “It’s the best I’ve thought he’s looked all season in terms of how he was tracking the puck. ... So, I think this is a positive step for him.”

The Maple Leafs went 0-for-3 on the power play, with all three opportunities coming in a scoreless first period.

“That’s not ideal,” Reimer said. “That’s not the game plan to give those guys that have that many weapons opportunities, but it just spoke to the intensity and integrity that we played with as far as how we killed. We stuck to our structure, obviously they had a few looks because they have some good players, but I thought we killed extremely well and it set the tone.”

Holmberg did score 32 seconds into the second period to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. He redirected in a point shot from Morgan Rielly in the slot.

Larkin tied it 1-1 at 15:39 when he one-timed a pass from David Perron just below the left face-off dot.

Marner put the Maple Leafs back in front 2-1 at 18:18, tapping a return pass from Tyler Bertuzzi into an open net.

Daniel Sprong tied it 2-2 at 2:46 of the third period with a backhand on a breakaway.

After Copp put Detroit in front, Lucas Raymond scored into an empty net with 19 seconds remaining for the 4-2 final.

“It truly is a blessing that we get to play a sport for a living,” Reimer said. “Every once in a while it’s a special night, and tonight was one of those nights.  A ton of adversity, backs against the wall, schedule is all messed up with flying in late and all of that. Those are games where you can cave or you can dig in, and I thought as a group, to a man, we dug in.”

NOTES: Marner's goal was his 600th NHL point. He reached the milestone in 548 games, the fastest Maple Leafs history. Darryl Sittler previously held the record at 584 games. ... Toronto forward Bobby McMann did not play because of an undisclosed injury. Keefe said he is day to day.