Red Wings 4, Maple Leafs 1

[October 18, 2014]  Red Wings 4, Maple Leafs 1: Johan Franzen scored his first two goals of the season and captain Henrik Zetterberg notched four assists for the fourth time in his career as visiting Detroit won the opener of a home-and-home series.

Gustav Nyquist tallied for the fourth straight contest and joined Justin Abdelkader with a goal and an assist for the Red Wings, who snapped a two-game winless streak (0-1-1). Jimmy Howard finished with 23 saves for Detroit, which hosts its Original Six rival on Saturday.

The Red Wings capitalized after Toronto defenseman Roman Polak lost his footing behind the net, allowing Zetterberg to collect the puck and skate toward the right faceoff circle. The Swede wired a sharp cross-slot pass to countryman Franzen, who redirected the puck past James Reimer (31 saves) exactly midway through the first period to open the scoring.

Detroit doubled the advantage at 5:42 of the second as Zetterberg settled the puck in the right circle before skating across the slot. He opted to issue a backhand feed to a driving Franzen, who wristed a shot past Reimer from deep in the left circle before exiting with a lower-body injury.

Nyquist continued his scoring frenzy late in the second before Mike Santorelli completed a give-and-go 21 seconds into the third to trim the Red Wings' lead to 3-1. Abdelkader answered 5 1/2 minutes later, taking advantage of Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf's turnover to cap the scoring.

GAME NOTEBOOK: A fan tossed a Maple Leafs jersey onto the ice for the second time this season at Air Canada Centre. ... Toronto rookie RW Brandon Kozun exited the contest in the second period and did not return after his left leg careened awkwardly into the boards following a check from Detroit D Kyle Quincey. ... Maple Leafs D Jake Gardiner returned to the ice and logged a team-high 22:12 of ice time after being a healthy scratch in the previous two contests.

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