Detroit Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde praises complete team effort in 4-2 win over Maple Leafs (Source: Imagn)

Detroit Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde shared his thoughts following the 4-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, ending a tough stretch of losses.

Jeff Petry scored twice, his first goals of the season. Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond also scored, with defensemen playing a big role in the win. Ville Husso made 23 saves, helping Detroit bounce back from a run of six losses in seven games.

Petry opened the scoring at 9:07 of the first period with a point shot through traffic. Mitch Marner thought he had tied the game, but his goal was overturned after Detroit’s offside challenge before Auston Matthews made it 1-1 in the second period.

Seider restored the Detroit Red Wings’ lead at 19:42 of the second period, scoring off a turnover by Matthews at center ice. Toronto tied the game early in the third period when Matthew Knies tipped in Marner’s shot to make it 2-2.

Petry scored again 44 seconds later, putting in a rebound for his second goal of the game. Husso made a key save on Marner’s breakaway to maintain the Red Wings’ lead before Raymond confirmed the win with an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Detroit Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde praised his team.

(6:00) “It’s a win against a good team, but it’s a good team that had their A game today, Toronto and their elite players were on, so we give our guys a ton of credit, and just glad we flipped one here,” Lalonde said.

He emphasized the importance of responding quickly after Toronto tied the game, calling it a complete team effort. He also commended Ville Husso’s performance:

“It was a really complete game, start to finish, (despite) losing the special teams battle and beating a team like that, it’s really good. … I’m really, really happy and proud of Ville.”

The win was a much-needed confidence boost for the Detroit Red Wings.

Matthews’ goal against the Detroit Red Wings goes in vain as Leafs lose

Auston Matthews scored his 50th goal of 2024 with a power-play one-timer assisted by Mitch Marner.

It was a good show of Marner and Matthews’ skill, as it tied the game for the Leafs 1-1 as Matthews joined an elite group of players to score 50 goals in four straight calendar years.

Talking about the play, Marner said (0:48):

“Just saw, you know, kind of had time and tried to shrink the zone as much as I could.” Marner said to media post-game.

“Tried the pump fake and luckily got two guys to bite on it. Saw Auston kind of flare out to the side there, so I had one-timers on both sides. I think the pass to him was just a little easier than the one to Willie. Lucky enough, he was able to put it in.”

Despite his milestone, the Leafs lost but will have a chance to regroup against the Sabres on Sunday.