REVIEW: McLellan’s debut behind the Red Wings bench failed in the 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs found the net first when David Kampf tipped in Steven Lortentz’s pass from behind the goal line from just above the goal crease to make it 1-0 at 2:29 of the first period.

Mitch Marner scored his first goal of the night at 8:16 of the first period. He was set up by John Tavares, who grabbed a rebound and sent a behind-the-back shot between the legs to Marner to make it 2-0.

Marner gave Toronto a three-goal lead just before the first intermission and scored his second goal on a cross-ice pass from William Nylander to make it 3-0 at 19:28 of the first frame.

“We allow a goal on the first shot and that can be disappointing,” McLellan said. “Of course you hope for a good start and suddenly you’re 1-0 down. Not that the beginning was bad, but we just get a goal and in the end we have really bad game management skills.”

Marner completed the hat trick – the third of his NHL career – at 16:23 of the second period, sinking a shot from Oliver Ekman-Larsson to extend the Maple Leafs’ lead to 4-0.

Nicholas Robertson followed with a goal of his own just seconds before the horn sounded for the second intermission, taking the lead off Max Domi’s drive and making the score 5-0 at 19:58 of the period.

The Red Wings scored two goals in the third period with goals from Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson to make the final score 5-2.

Raymond lit up the power play at 8:17 when Moritz Seider and captain Dylan Larkin provided the assists for the Swedish forward’s 14th goal of the season. Raymond continues to lead Detroit in goals (14), assists (20) and points (34) in 35 games.

Edvinsson scored his fourth goal of the season at 12:08 of the third period when his wrist shot from deep beat a screened Woll. Supported by Vladimir Tarasenko and JT Compher, Edvinsson has nine points (three goals, six assists) in 17 games since November 13th.

“I felt like we had a lot of chances throughout the game,” Raymond said. “I felt like we were rewarded in the third (period), but they did a little better than us tonight. I was sure we had a different jump, which was a good feeling. Of course, losing 5-2 is never fun, but it was a different feeling and something to build on.”