The Detroit Red Wings’ power play fired on all cylanders Saturday night, accounting for every goal in a 5-1 victory over the Original Six rival Toronto Maple Leafs.
Midway through the first period the Red Wings got on the board as Mikael Samuelsson tapped home a cross-crease feed. Scored at 9:53, the goal came just seconds after the end of a 5-on-3, which Chad Kilger still in the box but before Alex Steen could get back into the play.
With 2:44 remaining in the opening period, Henrik Zetterberg put Detroit up by two, putting the rebound of a shot by Tomas Holmstrom off the skate of Toronto netminder Andrew Raycroft and into the net from a bad angle.
Sameulsson scored again midway through the second, wristing a shot from the high slot past Raycroft at 10:42.
The Leafs responded quickly with a power play goal of their own just 1:22 later. Detroit goalie Dominik Hasek went down early to face a shot by Kyle Wellwood, who instead passed off to Bryan McCabe for a shot into the open net.
With two seconds remaining in the middle period, Zetterberg scored his second, lifting the puck over Raycroft after a Pavel Datsyuk shot clanked off the post.
Datsyuk would pick up another assist, his third of the night, just 1:15 into the third, when he fired a shot from the left circle that was deflected by Dan Cleary past Jean-Sebastien Aubin, who replaced Raycroft in the Toronto net to start the final period.
The Red Wings ended the game with five power play goals on 14 chances. The Maple Leafs’ lone goal came on one of their eight tries. Both teams had one five-on-three.
Hasek stopped 21 of 22 shots against and Raycroft made 18 saves on the same number of shots. Aubin stopped eight of the nine shots he faced.
The Red Wings will face another Eastern Conference foe on Tuesday when they host the Ottawa Senators.
Earlier in the day, the farm clubs of the Red Wings and Maple Leafs met in Toronto, with the Grand Rapids Griffins earning a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Marlies.
