Zetterberg gets 300th goal; Wings top Leafs in OT
TORONTO (AP) -- Henrik Zetterberg reached a milestone on the same night that fellow Swede and former Detroit Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom dropped the puck for a ceremonial faceoff as part of the Hockey Hall of Fame's induction weekend.
Zetterberg scored his 300th career goal in the first period, Jakub Kindl scored 2:17 into overtime and Detroit beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Friday night for its third straight win.
Zetterberg became just the fifth player in franchise history to get 300 goals and 500 assists, joining Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov. Fedorov was also at Air Canada Centre along with the rest of the Hall of Fame's class of 2015.
"When you retire looking back you might think, `Yeah it means a lot,'" Zetterberg said. "Obviously it's fun to reach these numbers. I couldn't have done it without the players that's been surrounding me for all these years. Without them I would not be close."
Zetterberg opened the scoring with 3:39 to play in the first on an apparently harmless wrist shot taken from just inside the blue line. It fooled James Reimer blocker side for Zetterberg's fourth goal this season.
"I just tried to use the (defense) as a screen and get it on net," Zetterberg said. "But I don't think I actually got it on net. I think he was a little wide. It must've hit his pad and deflected in."
Reimer confirmed Zetterberg's thought.
"Tough goal," Reimer said. "It was probably going a foot wide, I was just trying to block and put it out front. Somehow it ended up off the top of my pad and deflecting back in towards the end."
Zetterberg got the milestone against his former coach, Mike Babcock, who now leads Toronto.
"He's a great human being, he's a great, great pro, knows how to play, is strong on the puck, makes his teammates better," Babcock said. "He's just a guy you want to be around. He's been a real good captain there ever since Nick left. He likes hockey. You couldn't ask more from a captain."
Kindl was able to skate in down the middle and beat Reimer over the blocker for his second goal of the season.
Dion Phaneuf scored for Toronto. The Leafs have just one win in seven games this season at Air Canada Centre.
Petr Mrazek made 32 saves for Detroit, and Reimer stopped 22 shots.
With Reimer on the bench for the extra attacker, Toronto found some extra life and Phaneuf responded with his first of the year to make it 1-1 with 1:01 left in regulation.
Mrazek wasn't tested very often through the first half of the game, but was sharp when needed -- including a nice glove save on James van Riemsdyk from the top of the face-off dot.
Shots were 12-9 Toronto after 20 minutes and 20-12 entering the third.
Kindl mishandled the puck at the Maple Leafs' blue line while on the power play early in the third, which led to a short-handed breakaway for Shawn Matthias. But Mrazek stayed with him all the way and got the left pad down on Mathias' back-hand deke.
Soon after, Joffrey Lupul had a great chance in close, but he, too, was turned aside by the 23-year-old goaltender.
"I think our guys think we're playing right," Babcock said. "I think our guys would tell you that we're doing lots of good things, but we've got to find a way to win games."
Reimer made his biggest stop of the night in overtime when he reached around his body and used the back of his glove hand to stop Danny DeKeyser in close.
NOTES: Detroit forward Landon Ferraro left in the first period with a lower-body injury and didn't return. ... Toronto coach Mike Babcock used his timeout with 7:07 to play in the second period to refresh a tired lineup after an icing. ... The Leafs have allowed the first goal in 11 of 13 games.