The Toronto Maple Leafs put the finishing touches on their pre-season by firing on all cylinders.
Now they hope they can carry that into October when the games count.
“Pre-season feels like it’s a month [or] two months long,” Auston Matthews said. “It’s just nice to get it over with and start the real thing.”
Matthews had a goal and two assists and Frederik Andersen made 16 saves as the Maple Leafs defeated Detroit Red Wings 5-0 in final tune-up game for both teams on Saturday.
Matthews finished training camp with five goals and three assists in four games.
WATCH | Leafs blank Wings in final pre-season game:
Andersen allowed just one goal in four pre-season appearances.
“I haven’t really focused on the statistics or anything like that,” Andersen said of his game. “I just have the mindset where I’m focused on every day and every practice, and it appears like it’s working.”
Matthews is facing a charge of disorderly conduct and disruptive behaviour stemming from an alleged incident in May in his hometown of Scottsdale, Ariz.
None of the allegations have been proven in court and the player was not arrested.
The game was a final tuneup for both teams before the regular season gets underway. The Maple Leafs and Red Wings iced lineups that could resemble their regular-season rosters.
Toronto opens the regular season against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.
Rieder, Lucic lead Flames past Oilers
Tobias Rieder scored a pair of goals against his former team to lead the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers in the final pre-season game for both clubs.
Making a bid to crack Calgary’s lineup after finishing with no goals and 11 assists in 67 games with the Oilers last season, Rieder scored in the second period and then notched the game-winning goal at 14:21 of the third.
Milan Lucic, who the Flames acquired in July in a deal that saw fellow veteran forward James Neal go the other way to the Oilers, also scored for Calgary, while goalie David Rittich stopped 26-of-28 shots.
Gaetan Haas and Zack Kassian scored for the Oilers, while goalie Mikko Koskinen made 19 saves
Just two minutes into the game, Rittich made a pad save to stop a shot off the stick of Tomas Jurco before also turning aside a point-blank attempt by Markus Granlund about 60 seconds later.
Although the Flames outshot the Oilers 9-3 in the opening period, they weren’t able to get any pucks past Koskinen. Mikael Backlund had the best chance during a power play for the Flames, but Koskinen made a nice stick save to stop the Calgary forward’s slapshot.
Nick Suzuki, Habs down Sens in OT
Prospect Nick Suzuki scored in overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators in the final pre-season game for both teams.
Phillip Danault, Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher scored in regulation for the Canadiens (5-2-0). Back after missing two games with a bruised left hand, Carey Price stopped 35-of-37 shots.
Bobby Ryan, Anthony Duclair and Filip Chlapik scored for the Senators (3-3-0). Backup Anders Nilsson made 31 saves.
With the score tied 2-2 late in the third, Chlapik gave Ottawa the lead by easily intercepting an errant pass from Price with 2:17 left in the game.
The Canadiens then pulled Price and scored with the extra attacker when Gallagher deflected Jeff Petry’s point shot between Nilsson’s pads and in with 58 seconds on the clock.
Suzuki scored the winner with 56 seconds left in OT on a wraparound, his first of the pre-season.
WATCH | Habs’ Suzuki beats Sens in OT: