TORONTO — Ilya Samsonov was already looking like the Maple Leafs' starting goaltender for Game 1 of the playoffs.
Another injury to his oft-hurt crease partner might have cemented the Russian's status as Toronto's No. 1 option in a few weeks time.
Dylan Larkin registered the second hat trick of his career and Alex Nedeljkovic made 42 saves Sunday as the Detroit Red Wings topped the Leafs 5-2 on a night that saw Matt Murray go down with yet another injury.
Limited to 26 games because of abductor muscle and ankle issues earlier in the schedule, the netminder tumbled to the ice late in the first period after Wings forward Lucas Raymond lost an edge and accidentally sent the 28-year-old flat on his back.
Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe didn't have an update on Murray post-game, but said he was required to leave the ice and was tested for a concussion.
"So unexpected," Toronto captain John Tavares, who scored his team's second goal, said of the sequence that felled Murray. "No opportunity for him to brace (for) the impact or sense that it's coming."
Olli Maatta, with a goal and an assist, and Jonatan Berggren also scored for Detroit (34-33-9).
The Wings picked up their first regulation victory in Toronto since April 2, 2016 — exactly seven years to the day — to snap the Leafs' 9-0-1 home streak against their Atlantic Division rival.
"Great feeling coming in here and beating a team like that," Larkin said. "Quieting the home fans."
Calle Jarnkrok had the other goal for Toronto (45-21-10).
"We don't play well enough to get a favourable result," Keefe said. "Made a couple of mistakes that end up in our net."
Murray allowed two goals on seven shots before getting hurt. Samsonov, who made 31 stops in Saturday's 3-0 shutout victory over Ottawa, finished with 13 saves.
"You need a quick change in your brain," Samsonov said of coming into the game cold. "It's not the easiest — really hard — but we need to do this."
Locked into a first-round playoff matchup with Tampa Bay when the post-season begins April 17, Toronto rested star winger Mitch Marner along with defencemen Jake McCabe and Mark Giordano.
The Wings, who are poised to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season despite making some good strides with a young core, opened the scoring 90 seconds into the first period when Maatta scored his sixth goal of the campaign on a breakaway.
Jarnkrok deposited his 19th — and first in 24 all-time appearances against the team that drafted him in 2010 — as a Detroit penalty expired to tie things up.
Toronto centre David Kampf was then stopped on a penalty shot before Berggren fired his 14th upstairs on Murray for a 2-1 lead.
The Leafs goaltender departed moments later following that unexpected collision with Raymond.
Larkin beat Samsonov with 38.2 seconds left in the period to set a new career-high with 75 points on the season and a 3-1 advantage through 20 minutes.
Nedeljkovic made 14 saves in the middle period, but Tavares tipped home his 33rd on a power play in the third to cut the deficit to one.
Toronto led 11-0 on the shot clock in the period before Larkin slid home a rebound for his 30th to make it 4-2.
Samsonov made an incredible glove save to deny Berggren his second of the night with under seven minutes left in regulation.
But Larkin found the empty net after Nedeljkovic held the fort to secure his third straight victory after spending most of the season in the minors.
The focus in the other locker room, meanwhile, was on a teammate facing more injury uncertainty with the most important time of the year right around the corner.
"It's hard," Samsonov said of his reaction to seeing Murray go down again. "We don't know long-term or whatever — third injury.
"I'm so sad."
BUNTING'S CHALLENGE
Michael Bunting is at his most effective when he's agitating and mixing things up with the opposition.
But the Leafs winger found himself in the penalty box for 12 minutes Sunday — two for embellishment to go along with a misconduct.
Keefe said his player has to continue to work to figure out where the line is and how officials call the game when he's on the ice.
"(Bunting) eats three cross-checks and he gets taken to the box (for embellishing)," said the coach. "He had four or five punches in the face in the scrum and he ends up with a 10-minute misconduct. It's tough for him.
"He's just got to find his way through that."
KASPER DEBUTS
Detroit centre Marco Kasper, the No. 8 pick at the 2022 draft, made his NHL debut.
The 18-year-old Austrian played the last three seasons in Sweden, putting up eight goals and 23 points in 52 games in the country's top division in 2022-23.
"Dream come true," Kasper, who played almost 15 minutes and took the opening faceoff against Tavares, said following Sunday's morning skate. "Can't get any better … it's just surreal."
UP NEXT
Leafs: Host last-place Columbus on Tuesday before visiting first-place Boston on Thursday.
Wings: Visit Montreal on Tuesday and welcome Buffalo on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2023.
___
Follow @JClipperton_CP on Twitter.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
