Maple Leafs goalie Woll solid, but Red Wings win in overtime

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There’s nothing wrong with being in a great goaltending duel — unless you’re on the losing end.

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That was the fate of Maple Leafs netminder Joseph Woll, as he made 39 saves to Detroit Red Wings veteran John Gibson’s 30 before Dylan Larkin scored with 1:52 to go in overtime. That gave Detroit a 2-1 victory Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena. Woll had made five saves in the extra frame.

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It was Detroit’s second extra-period win over Toronto in a four-game season’s series the Wings swept.

It was also the first time Detroit swept Toronto in a season series since going 5-0 in 1995-96.

And after four months of tight standings, Detroit has a nine-point lead on Toronto in the Atlantic Division, with the Leafs still out of wild-card positioning.

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Toronto also lost key defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson because of a first-period lower-body injury. He was knocked to the ice by Lucas Raymond, who was decked by Simon Benoit’s body check at the end of the second period.

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube started Scott Laughton and his energy line against Patrick Kane, the 37-year-old winger looking for two points to pass Mike Modano as the highest-scoring American in NHL history.

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But the opening goal went to the Leafs line, Steven Lorentz centring to Calle Jarnkrok, who fanned on his shot with the puck skittering to a wide-open Laughton for his seventh goal this season.

Kane, meanwhile, was buzzing on an early power play, hitting the post on his best chance of the period.

Laughton had his sixth career penalty shot in the second period after he was disrupted by Simon Edvinsson, but over-handled the puck with his slow approach to GIbson to remain at one career freebie goal. Gibson also survived nine shots on two Leafs power plays through 40 minutes.

Betting that Woll would bounce back from allowing 10 goals in five previous periods, the coach called his number instead of Dennis Hildeby, and Woll responded with 14 first-period saves. But Detroit’s last shot got through with 18 seconds to go, after their rush froze defenceman Jake McCabe at the blueline and gave Edvinsson a clear shot.

The Leafs have Thursday off in preparation for their next game, on Friday at home against the Vegas Golden Knights. It will be the first game in Toronto for Mitch Marner since the sixth-highest scorer in franchise history made a controversial exit in a sign-and-trade.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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