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Franzen, Zetterberg power Red Wings past Maple Leafs

Oct 18, 2014 - 4:06 AM Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Johan Franzen scored twice and Henrik Zetterberg had four assists to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opener of a home-and-home set from Air Canada Centre on Friday.

Gustav Nyquist scored in his fourth straight game and Justin Abdelkader netted the other goal for Detroit, which snapped a two-game skid.

"(Zetterberg) is the leader of our team and we expect him to be good," Detroit head coach Mike Babcock said. "When he's not, we expect him to respond, and he did tonight."

Goaltender Jimmy Howard made 23 saves in the win.

Mike Santorelli supplied Toronto's lone goal and James Reimer allowed all four goals on 35 shots in defeat.

"Extremely disappointed," Toronto head coach Randy Carlyle said. "We played too much on our heels in the defensive zone."

The two teams will play again in Detroit on Saturday.

Zetterberg stripped defenseman Roman Polak of the puck, skated behind the net and sent a pass down low to Franzen, who redirected it past Reimer for the game's first goal halfway through the opening stanza.

The duo combined for another goal 5:42 into the second. Franzen received a slick backhanded dish from Zetterberg, who skated across the goalmouth after tracking down the loose puck at the circle, and lifted it over Reimer for a 2-0 Detroit lead.

Jakub Kindl sent a bouncing puck into the Toronto zone. Zetterberg tracked it down at the right circle and sent it to the slot, where Nyquist kicked the puck out of his skates and made it a 3-0 game on a wrister with 1:44 to play in the middle frame.

The Maple Leafs got on the board 21 seconds into the third. Leo Komarov sent a pass to Santorelli, who raced through the slot and backhanded the shot past Howard for a 3-1 score.

Nyquist collected a giveaway from Dion Phaneuf and fired a shot from the right circle. Abdelkader was there to redirect it past Reimer less than six minutes into the third, restoring Detroit's three-goal advantage.

Game Notes

Franzen left the game with a lower-body injury after crashing into the boards at the end of his second goal ... Nyquist became the fifth Detroit player since the 1989-90 season to score in his first four games, joining Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan, Mikael Samuelsson and Tomas Holmstrom ... Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner returned to the lineup after missing two games as a healthy scratch ... Detroit has won three straight against Toronto since losing in last season's Winter Classic ... The last time the Maple Leafs and Red Wings played one another in back-to-back games was during the 2000-01 season (Feb. 8, 10).