Red Wings fall to Leafs, extending skid to three

TORONTO — Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist to reach the 500 career points as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Saturday night.

John Tavares had two goals and Pontus Holmberg also scored for Toronto, which snapped a two-game skid with its first win of the month. Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves in a bounce-back effort after surrendering five goals in a 6-5 shootout loss to St. Louis on Tuesday.

Jake Walman scored for Detroit in its third straight loss. Magnus Hellberg finished with 25 saves.

Marner hit the 500-point mark in his 467th career game, just four days after Auston Matthews accomplished the feat. Matthews is the fastest player in franchise history to do it, accomplishing it in 445 games.

Tavares capped a run of four consecutive goals for Toronto with an empty-netter with 1:39 remaining. It was his 18th of the season.

After numerous missed opportunities from both teams, Olli Maata sent a laser of a pass from the end boards to spring Walman on a breakaway midway through the first period. Walman beat Samsonov top corner to open the scoring with 8:03 left in the opening period.

Marner tied it 24 seconds into the second with a sharp-angled goal on a rebound from Matthews’ point shot that went wide and off the boards behind the net. It gave Marner his milestone and Matthews was credited with an assist, allowing both players to extend their point streaks to four games.

Tavares scored the go-ahead goal 6:37 into the second when Calle Jarnkrok found him streaking down the middle of Detroit’s zone between two defenders.

Holmberg gave the Leafs a two-goal advantage when he tipped in Morgan Rielly’s point shot 6:19 into the third for his fourth.

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