Maple Leafs dump Red Wings 6-2 in opener of home-and-home set

The Toronto Maple Leafs broke open a tight game with a four-goal outburst in the second period en route to a 6-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena.

Jake Gardiner, John Tavares and Patrick Marleau scored on the power play and Par Lindholm added a shorthanded goal — all within a span of 3:54 — to help Toronto improve its pre-season record to 6-1-0.

Gardiner added another goal late in the third period and Nazem Kadri also scored for the Maple Leafs. Gustav Nyquist and Dylan Larkin replied for Detroit (6-1-0).

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The teams will close out their pre-season schedules on Saturday night with the back end of the home-and-home set at Little Caesars Arena.

The Maple Leafs iced a lineup that will be similar to the one they’ll use in their regular-season opener Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens.

Kadri opened the scoring 98 seconds into the game by taking advantage of some lax Detroit defence.