Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha each had a goal and an assist to lead the Detroit Red Wings past the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Saturday night in NHL pre-season action.
Brad Boyes had the lone goal for Toronto (3-5-0), which lost its fifth-straight pre-season game.
Petr Mrazek made 28 saves as Detroit concluded the pre-season with a 6-0-2 record. Jonathan Bernier made 13 saves in the loss.
Athanasiou opened the scoring at 13:50 of the second period, using a burst of speed to split Morgan Rielly and Roman Polak before beating Bernier blocker side for his fourth of the pre-season.
Mantha gave the Red Wings a 2-0 lead with 54 seconds remaining in the second on a power play, beating a sprawling Bernier for his third of the exhibition schedule.
Boyes got the Maple Leafs on the board 22 seconds into the third, beating Mrazek by putting home his own rebound.
Tempers boiled over between the two clubs, who were playing each other on back-to-back nights, in the third period. After Toronto’s Richard Panik caught Tyler Bertuzzi with an open-ice hit in the Red Wings zone, Athanasiou delivered a big hit on Peter Holland behind the Leafs’ net.
Toronto outshot Detroit 7-5 in the first period including a 5-1 margin at the midway mark.
Five minutes into the first, Nazem Kadri failed to connect on a 2-on-1 pass from Boyes. Later, Holland put his backhand shot over the net when he was all alone in front of Mrazek.
Kadri had another chance three minutes into the second, but fanned on a one-timed attempt from Boyes.
The Leafs will have a day off on Sunday before returning to practice on Monday. Toronto opens the regular season at home on Wednesday night when it hosts the Montreal Canadiens.
Notes: The announced attendance at Air Canada Centre was 17,879. The two clubs played a scoreless mandatory five-minute 3-on-3 overtime period as teams test out the new format.
