RECAP: Red Wings close out 2024-25 regular season with 4-3 overtime loss in Toronto

TORONTO – The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night in the 2024-25 regular-season finale for both Atlantic Division and Original Six clubs.

“A lot of games like that, especially with how we had the lead,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “We talked about it after the second period, there’s something to play for by getting to 40 wins. That would have been big for our team, but we just didn’t do that. Kind of the story of the season.”

Goalie Cam Talbot 16 saves in his 47th appearance of the campaign for Detroit (39-35-8; 86 points), which finished sixth in the Atlantic. Making 31 saves for Toronto (52-26-4; 108 points), which will face the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference First Round, was netminder Joseph Woll.

“We had the potential to win a game, played a pretty good game," Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. "Our game-management skills were horrendous and it came back to bite us.”

Auston Matthews gave Toronto the night’s first lead with 2:07 left in the first period. The 27-year-old captain, who was selected with the first overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, took a Matthew Knies’ feed and found twine on a backhand shot from just outside of the crease to make it 1-0.

But Detroit responded and knotted the game at 1-1 in the final minute of the opening frame, as Austin Watson netted a backhand shot of his own from in tight at 19:19. The lone assist on Watson’s third tally of the season went to Justin Holl, who spent parts of his first six NHL seasons (2017-23) with the Maple Leafs.

Early in the second period, Holl took advantage of Marco Kasper’s moving screen at the edge of the right face-off circle and slipped a wrist shot from the point past Woll to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead at 2:16. The assists on Holl’s second goal of the season were credited to Kasper and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Just 3:34 after Holl scored, Alex DeBrincat lit the lamp on Detroit’s first power-play opportunity of the night. He passed the puck to Moritz Seider, who surveyed the ice and sent it right back to the 27-year-old forward for a one-timer at the top of the left face-off circle.

Patrick Kane also assisted on DeBrincat’s team-leading 39th goal of the season, which padded things to 3-1 for the Red Wings. For DeBrincat, it also marked his 70th point, a total he’s now reached three times in his NHL career.

Lucas Raymond’s last shift came just before the midway mark of the second period as he exited after awkwardly colliding into the boards.

“He lost an edge and went into the boards,” McLellan said about Raymond. “Kind of a freak thing. Shoulder is a little bit sore. It’s not going to be long-term damage or anything like that, but it made no sense to put him back into the lineup.”

Philippe Myers cut it to 3-2 at 3:34 of the third period, converting on the Maple Leafs’ 13th shot of the night. Then, with Woll pulled late, Chris Taney forced the game into overtime when he scored on a centering pass from Mitch Marner with two seconds remaining.

“They pull their goalie, and we have every opportunity to win that game,” McLellan said. “We can either win it 4-2 or 3-2, and we just mismanaged the moment. That has to get fixed.”

The game-winning goal came 56 seconds into the extra session from Scott Laughton, who completed Toronto’s comeback when he pushed a rebound over the goal line at the side of the net.

“It’s frustrating,” DeBrincat said. “Whether it’s a meaningless game or not, it sucks to have a 3-1 lead and give it up then obviously lose in overtime. I think we did some good things tonight. I think there’s a lot of good things to reflect on the season. Obviously, not good enough so a lot to learn from as well. We have better. I think we are better.”

In the weeks and months ahead, Larkin said the Red Wings must work hard and be ready to “hit the ground running next year as a group.”

“Todd is really detailed,” Larkin said. “Very impressed by him. He’s a really good coach, so having him and having Training Camp with him…he knows what it takes to win in this League. I’m sure everyone’s meetings here in the next couple days will be very important. You take that information, go home and come back with a good attitude.”

NEXT UP: Follow along on DetroitRedWings.com for continued Red Wings coverage this offseason.

POSTGAME QUOTES

McLellan on looking forward to having the young players at Training Camp next fall

“Quite frankly, I’m not even thinking about that right now. We got a lot of stuff to do here in the next three to four days. The meetings that we have with the players are real important. We’ll give them some feedback on what we saw or what we think they can become, and what we think they need to do.”

Kasper on Thursday’s game and the overall season

“I thought we played a really good game, honestly. It’s tough that we conceded a goal there in the last second. That’s sports sometimes. It’s not always going to be great, but I thought we played a hell of a game and put up a good fight. The whole year, I feel like we just tried to improve every day.”

Larkin on Detroit’s young players growing and developing

“They’re really good hockey players and showed really well. Some of them had really good years, and it’s important to go through a full NHL season to feel the grind. To feel the January, February and March games where there are some nights when it’s hard and you’re tired, but you still got to play.”

Kasper on learning what it will take to get into the postseason

“I think a lot is just game management, being ready from the start and [maintaining that] through 60 minutes. A game like today, we just got to win it. We outplayed the opponent, I think, and it’s just those small things – get pucks in deep, not lose it on our own blue line – that we got to work on. That’s a big part of how we can take the next step.”

DeBrincat on the club’s play following the 4 Nations Face-Off break

“That’s the big question, right? I think game-management skills was something we weren’t great on. We had leads in quite a few games and gave them up. I think that’s a big thing. Some injuries, obviously that happens every year, but some good players got hurt. A lot of things you can look on as to why we played well and why we didn’t play as well.”