Mitch Marner scored a hat trick with three consecutive goals in the first two periods, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night. This was Marner’s third career hat trick, and he had previously scored four goals against Detroit on February 26, 2022.
David Kampf scored his first goal of the season in his 500th career game. Nicholas Robertson also scored, and John Tavares contributed two assists. Joseph Woll made 23 saves in goal as Toronto secured their second win in three games against Detroit, with one more meeting between the teams left this season.
Todd McLellan, who was hired as the Red Wings’ new head coach on Thursday to replace Derek Lalonde, had a rough start with the loss. Detroit’s Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson scored, but the team has now lost four straight games. Goalies Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon combined for 18 saves in the defeat.
Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs missed his third straight game due to an upper-body injury.
Kampf opened the scoring at 2:29 in the first period, capitalizing on a Red Wings turnover. Marner then scored his first goal of the game at 8:16, converting a rebound with a pass from Tavares. Marner added his second goal with 31.8 seconds left in the first period, assisted by Nylander and Tavares.
Marner completed his hat trick with 3:37 remaining in the second period, redirecting a shot from Ekman-Larsson past Talbot. Robertson added a goal with just 1.2 seconds left in the second period, assisted by Domi and McMann.
Raymond and Edvinsson scored for Detroit in the third period, but it wasn’t enough to recover from the Maple Leafs’ strong start
