The Toronto Maple Leafs outplayed the Detroit Red Wings in the second of their early season home-and-home on Thanksgiving Monday, but after staging a comeback from a 2-0 deficit and finally solving goalie Cam Talbot in the third period, the ending was a turkey for the Maple Leafs, as Mason Appleton’s goal with 45 seconds left in regulation gave the Wings a 3-2 victory at Scotiabank Arena.
After former Leaf James van Riemsdyk gave the Wings a 2-0 lead, Toronto responded with a pair of goals from Matthew Knies and Calle Jarnkrok to tie the game, but with just under a minute, Auston Matthews’ block of a Ben Chiarot point shot went straight to the stick of Appleton, who quickly fired it past Anthony Stolarz. Stolarz allowed three goals on 15 shots in the loss, while the Leafs fired 40 shots at Talbot.
The game marked the NHL debut of Easton Cowan, who started the game playing the right side with Knies and Matthews, but was later shifted around as the Leafs scrambled their lines to find some late-game magic. Cowan played just over 14 minutes and did not seem out of place at all. Leafs head coach Craig Berube after the game was extremely pleased with the 20-year-old’s effort, to the point that he put Cowan out on the ice with the extra attacker.
“I felt good, I wasn’t really nervous at all.” Cowan said about the game. “I just went out there and played free.”
The Leafs get a chance to respond after the late loss immediately as they take on the Nashville Predators in the second of back-to-back home games on Tuesday. Berube said he will go with the same lineup as Monday’s except for starting Cayden Primeau in goal. The Leafs head coach said that hs did not give any thought to starting Stolarz on consecutive nights. Primeau was claimed off of waivers from Carolina just before the start of the season to fill the vacancy of goalie Joseph Woll while he is on leave of absence. The 26-year-old struggled last season in 11 games with Montreal, but put up a 21-2-2 record, 1.96 GAA and .927 save percentage in AHL Laval.
Injured winger Steven Lorentz skated on Tuesday morning, and indications are that the fourth-liner could be better later this week. Lorentz played just 1:!7 and left the game in the first period of Saturday’s game after a mid-ice collision. Nashville is 2-0-1 after winning 4-1 over the Ottawa Senators on Monday with Juuse Saros in goal. Saros will not go back-to-back on Tuesday, and backup Justus Annunen will get his first start of the season.
