Hutchinson boosts Maple Leafs past Red Wings, gets first win of season

TORONTO -- Michael Hutchinson made 29 saves for his first victory of the season, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Hutchinson made 10 saves in the first period, when he stopped Dylan Larkin on two breakaways, one of them 35 seconds into the game.
"It was big," Hutchinson said. "There's always important saves in a game, and that happened to be one early on. I tried not to overthink things and just relax and let the game come to me. I feel like I'm in a good headspace right now, so I came in relaxed. I was happy I was able to keep Larkin from scoring on that."
WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Hutchinson is 1-5-1 in seven starts. Frederik Andersen started Toronto's previous nine games after Hutchinson allowed five goals in a 6-4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 29. The win was the Maple Leafs' first of the season by a goalie other than Andersen.
"It felt great to get that win for Hutch," Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews said. "He made some unbelievable saves, especially early in the game. They got behind us with a couple breakaways, and then in the second period we were not taking care of the puck in the neutral zone, and he made some big saves. We're extremely happy for him, and you could hear the crowd chanting ("Let's go Hutch"). It was just an awesome moment."

Matthews and Zach Hyman each had two goals and an assist for the Maple Leafs (19-14-4), who have won four in a row and are 6-1-0 in their past seven.
"Hutchinson was awesome, definitely first star of the game," Hyman said. "It was huge for us and him, it's a huge confidence boost. He hasn't had the best luck of late, I don't think he's been playing poorly but we haven't given him a chance and early on tonight we hung him out there and he was able to bail us out."
Tyler Bertuzzi scored, and Calvin Pickard made 16 saves on 20 shots in relief for the Red Wings (9-25-3), who have lost three in a row. Jonathan Bernier started for Detroit and made the save on all three shots he faced before leaving the game at 6:52 of the first period because of a groin injury.
"It's tough for Calvin," Larkin said. "He hasn't played a whole lot himself recently, and I thought he came in and gave us a chance to win this game. We just needed more offensively, and we didn't help him out enough tonight."
Hyman put Toronto ahead 1-0 at 17:11 of the second period on a breakaway. Video review determined the puck crossed the goal line before the net was knocked off its moorings.

"Up until their goal in the second, they had four shots in the second, and I thought we played really good hockey," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "It kind of went back and forth, but in the second, I thought we were the better team for lots of the period."
Matthews made it 2-0 at 2:18 of the third period on the power play when he took a pass from John Tavares and shot between Pickard's pads from the left face-off dot.
Hyman extended the lead to 3-0 at 8:51.

Matthews took a pass from Mitchell Marner in the slot and made it 4-0 at 13:39.
"We played really well and then we just found a way to give up two points tonight," Larkin said. "They scored, and we knew that explosive offense they had. We didn't do enough to stop them in the third period."
Bertuzzi's power-play goal with 1:44 left made it 4-1.

They said it

"It's a learning process for this group, and it's been hard. I liked the fact we came out with some emotion and passion and played hard. Now we have to make sure we come out on Sunday with some emotion and passion and play hard." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill
"It was a challenge [to keep positive over the first two months of the season]. I think I was doing a good job about it. Getting sent down (to the American Hockey League), that's always difficult, so regaining that good headspace is a process, and you can't do it on your own. [Goaltending coach] Steve [Briere] and I have a good relationship, and there's a lot of people in our organization you're able to talk to open and honestly so you can feel good about yourself and ready to play at your best when you get that opportunity." -- Maple Leafs goalie Michael Hutchinson

Need to know

Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha will not play against the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday after being injured in a fight with Jake Muzzin late in the third period, Blashill said. Mantha's head hit the ice when Muzzin pulled him down. … Maple Leafs forward Trevor Moore returned after missing 15 games because of a shoulder injury. He played 9:45 and had two hits. … Marner had two assists, giving him four goals and eight assists in a seven-game point streak. ... Toronto won 6-3 at the New York Rangers on Friday.

What's next

Red Wings: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-D, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday (2 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNO, FS-CR, NHL.TV)