Red Wings defeat Maple Leafs after falling behind early

DETROIT -- Defensemen Danny DeKeyser and Trevor Daley each scored his first goal of the season to help the Detroit Red Wings end a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Little Caesars Arena on Friday.
Tomas Tatar scored for the Red Wings (12-13-7), who had lost 10 of their previous 11 games (1-5-5). Jimmy Howard made 25 saves.

"This was a good night for us," Daley said. "We got down by one early, but we battled back and got the win. We know we're a good team, but the results haven't shown that lately. Tonight, we saw the rewards."
WATCH: [All Maple Leafs vs. Red Wings highlights]
Andreas Borgman scored for the Maple Leafs (20-13-1), who have lost three straight without center Auston Matthews (upper-body injury), including a 2-0 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

"Obviously, we're missing a great offensive player, and that makes things easier for the other team," Toronto center Tyler Bozak said. "When he's on the ice, the other team has to focus on him, but we've won five games without him, so it isn't an excuse."
Backup goalie Curtis McElhinney made 26 saves in his second start in four games for the Maple Leafs.
"I felt good out there, but I probably needed to make one more save," he said. "If I could have kept them to two, we're right in the game."
Borgman gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 1:58 of the first period, beating Howard with a point shot through traffic. It was the rookie defenseman's third goal, his first in 19 games.

Detroit took the lead with two goals in the second period, when it limited Toronto to five shots on goal.
"I didn't think we had the same compete level in the first period that we've had recently," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "We talked about it between periods, and we were much better in the second."
DeKeyser tied it 1-1 at 5:22, getting to a loose puck in the left face-off circle and flipping it past McElhinney for his first point of the season in his 15th game.
Daley put the Red Wings ahead 2-1 at 11:22, keeping the puck on a shorthanded, 2-on-1 break and beating McElhinney with a wrist shot from the left hash marks. It was Daley's third shorthanded goal in 924 NHL games.
"I thought we had a good first period, and we were still playing well into the second period," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "Once they got the first goal, we unraveled a little, and after the shorthanded goal, we were chasing the game."
McElhinney said he was expecting Daley to pass to Dylan Larkin rather than shoot.
"You have to play the odds in a situation like that," he said. "Give Daley credit for making a good shot."

The Red Wings have six shorthanded goals in 32 games, their most in a season since scoring eight in 2009-2010.
"Specialty teams are a huge part of winning in this league, and it is really big when you can not only get a kill but get a goal on top of it," Blashill said.
Tatar scored a power-play goal at 9:39 of the third to make it 3-1, tapping in Henrik Zetterberg's pass across the slot for his 10th goal.
"I saw [Zetterberg] pick up a lot of speed and beat his guy, so I was trying to get in position for a rebound," Tatar said. "He passed it right onto my stick, so that's a good play."

Goal of the game

Daley's go-ahead goal at 11:22 of the second period.

Save of the game

Howard stopping Bozak's redirection at 11:54 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Tatar's power-play goal at 9:39 of the third period.

They said it

"This team plays hard, and when you do that, good things will happen. It isn't easy, though, because the other team plays hard too. That's the great thing about this league: Things are never supposed to be easy." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
"I don't know what I was thinking, to be honest. I try not to think too much out there because it usually gets me into trouble. I just saw a chance to shoot." -- Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley on his shorthanded goal

Need to know

The Maple Leafs are off until a rare Tuesday afternoon game, which will begin at the same time as the Toronto Arenas' first NHL game 100 years earlier. … Zetterberg had two assists and has one goal and three assists during a three-game point streak. … Detroit scored a shorthanded goal in two straight games, the first time they've done that since April 1 and 3, 2007.

What's next

Maple Leafs: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (2 p.m. ET; SNO, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: At the New York Islanders on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-D, NHL.TV)