Larkin has hat trick, Red Wings defeat Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs failed to gain ground in the Atlantic Division when they lost 5-2 to the Detroit Red Wings at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday.

Dylan Larkin had a hat trick, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 43 saves for the Red Wings (34-33-9).
"It's a great feeling coming here and beating a team like that," Larkin said. "It's always fun coming in here and winning and quieting the home fans."
Nedeljkovic, who was recalled from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Mar. 23, has won his past three starts with a save percentage of .928.
"I'm so happy for 'Ned,' and obviously (he was) a big factor why we stay in those games lately," Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider said. "Ever since he came back, he's owned the net. He's been robbing guys, saving games. It's been really fun to watch."

Calle Jarnkrok and John Tavares scored for the Maple Leafs (45-21-10) are in second place in the Atlantic, four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Matt Murray allowed two goals on seven shots before leaving at 16:16 of the first when Lucas Raymond inadvertently slid into him after losing an edge. Ilya Samsonov, who made 31 saves in a 3-0 win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, made 13 saves on 15 shots in relief.
"You need a quick change in your brain," Samsonov said. "It's not the easiest, really hard, but we need to do this. You need to get ready for everything."
Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe had no update on Murray after the game but confirmed he was tested for a concussion and that it was "mandatory he had to come off the ice."
"You don't like seeing that," Tavares said. "So unexpected ... there's no opportunity for him to brace the impact or sense that it's coming. Hopefully he's OK and it's just precautionary.
"He's played some real solid hockey for us this year and just hasn't really been able to get traction that way because some of the things he's been dealing with. And then a tough bounce like that one."
Olli Maatta gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 1:30 of the first period, finishing on a breakaway after Sam Lafferty mishandled Conor Timmins' pass at the blue line.
Jarnkrok tied it 1-1 at 7:33, scoring on his own rebound in the slot after initially one-timing a pass from Nick Abruzzese.
The Maple Leafs were awarded a penalty shot 23 seconds later after Marco Kasper covered the puck in the crease with his hand, but Nedeljkovic stopped David Kampf to keep the game tied.

Nedeljkovic then stopped Alex Kerfoot on a breakaway, and 21 seconds later, Jonatan Berggren put the Red Wings ahead 2-1 at 12:45 when he took a stretch pass from Robert Hagg, split the defense and scored on a partial breakaway.
Larkin pushed it to 3-1 at 19:21 when his shot from the top of the left face-off circle deflected in off Justin Holl.
"We weren't ready to go from the get-go," Jarnkrok said. "In the second and the third, I think we played well enough to win. That start wasn't good enough."
Tavares cut the lead to 3-2 with a power-play goal at 6:00 of the third period, tipping Morgan Rielly's point shot at the top of the crease.

Larkin responded to make it 4-2 at 10:16, scoring his 30th of the season on a rebound between Samsonov's pads.
"We missed a breakaway, we missed a penalty shot in the first period, so even though we'd given up a bunch, we probably deserved to have more than we had, and then from there I thought they defended extremely hard," Keefe said. "We didn't generate much of quality tonight at 5-on-5. ... In terms of where I put it, we lost a game on home ice, and that's not acceptable any time."
Larkin shot into an empty net from the corner in the defensive zone with 2:12 remaining for the 5-2 final. It was his second NHL hat trick.
"It's pretty special to do it here, my grandma was here," Larkin said. "She's 88 now and she came to the rink. I got to see her yesterday, and it's always pretty special when you get to do that. That was pretty cool."
NOTES: The Maple Leafs played without forward Mitchell Marner, who Keefe said is dealing with some "bumps and bruises." Defensemen Mark Giordano and Jake McCabe did not play due to rest. ... Kasper, who was selected No. 8 by the Red Wings in the 2022 NHL Draft, had one shot in 14:59 of ice time in his NHL debut.