DETROIT _ The historic night electrified the arena, with spirited cheers breaking out at first puck drop.
The Detroit Red Wings hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs for the last time at Joe Louis Arena Saturday, the event drawing a bipartisan crowd that traded chants and cheering.
The Wings largely outplayed the Leafs but a couple of mistakes were costly. Mike Green scored in the final minute but the Wings lost, 5-4, even as they outshot the Leafs, 42-27.
Gustav Nyquist provided a first-period lead but the Leafs' trio of amazing rookies _ Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner and William Nylander _ pulled the Leafs to a 3-1 lead until Nick Jensen scored to make it a one-goal game going into the third period. The Wings sustained good pressure, testing Frederik Andersen while Jimmy Howard kept the Leafs at bay.
Fans cheered when an octopus landed on the ice and Joe Louis Arena building manager and ice keeper Al Sobotka walked off twirling it.
The Wings earned a power play just past the midpoint of the third period. Tomas Tatar fanned on a clear chance, instead losing the puck and forcing the Wings to re-enter Toronto's zone. Nothing much was generated.
There was 5:19 left when Niklas Kronwall popped the puck into the net after Henrik Zetterberg's shot slid through the paint. A bit of bad luck put them in hole again when Howard got a piece of James van Riemsdyk's shot but not enough to stop the puck from sliding into the net. Matthews scored again with 1:09 remaining, pouncing on a loose puck down low. Green scored with 44.2 seconds left in regulation.
The Wings, seemingly recovered after playing five times in seven days, jumped out of the gate as Frans Nielsen's line threw three shots on Andersen during the opening shift. What should have been a four-minute power play was reduced by two when Nyquist took a slashing call, but he made up for that with a goal at 14:50. It was Nielsen who skated the puck into Toronto's zone before dropping a pass that Nyquist turned into his 11th goal. It was a good period overall for the Wings, and they finished with a 16-9 edge in shots.
Riley Sheahan opened up the second period with a check on Nikita Zaitsev. The Wings had to kill a penalty to Kronwall and didn't fare well, as rookie of the year contender Matthews took a pass from Leo Komarov and threaded the puck shortside on Howard, making it 1-1 by the three-minute mark.
Sheahan _ still searching for his first goal of the season in the last week of the season _ got the puck by the right side of a near-open net but he couldn't corral the puck onto his stick to bury it.
The Wings gave up another goal, at 13:53, Mitchell Marner beat Howard with a high shot glove-side from the slot after a bad line change by Detroit. Nylander made it 3-1 at 15:08, but Jensen skated to the net and scored on a short shot to edge Detroit back within a goal. Nielsen whipped a shot on net late in the period but Andersen caught it, one of 28 shots the Wings had after two periods.
