AROUND THE NHL Wednesday’s gamaes

Maple Leafs 6, Red Wings 3

TORONTO

Curtis McElhinney got all the help he needed in his season debut.

McElhinney made 30 saves and the Maple Leafs scored four times in the first period in a victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

Starting in place of Frederik Andersen, McElhinney stopped 15 shots in the third period to hold off the Red Wings.

“There’s a little rust on my end, that’s for sure, but it sure did feel nice to get in there,” McElhinney said. “Obviously, the run support early on helps and goes a long way. It’s just a big win for us and I’m happy I could help out.”

Nazem Kadri, Zach Hyman, Auston Matthews, Connor Brown, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander scored to help Toronto improve to an NHL-best 6-1-0.

“Great to see, but it’s still October,” Kadri said. “There’s a lot of good teams and it won’t be this loose for long.”

The Maple Leafs were coming off a 2-0 victory at Washington on Tuesday night.

“We used everybody last night, a good four-line rotation, so that helped us,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “Our guys were fresher than they might have been. McElhinney had a real solid effort for us, he had to be good early. Even though we scored (early) it took a while to get our legs going.”

Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Tatar, Jonathan Ericsson scored for the Red Wings, and Nick Jensen had three assists. Jimmy Howard gave up three goals on four shots before getting yanked in favor of Petr Mrazek late in the first period.

Toronto scored on its first two shots and four of its first five.

“I think there was some funny goals,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. ”I don’t know if it was all on them, some of it is. It’s one of those nights.”

The Maple Leafs opened the scoring after catching the Red Wings on a bad line change. Kadri took a long pass from Ron Hainsey, walked in and beat Howard over the blocker at 5:56. Hyman scored 44 seconds later, tipping Rielly’s shot past Howard.

“I thought (Kadri’s) group was our best group tonight, dialed in start to finish,” Babcock said.

Zetterberg put Detroit on the board with 7:50 to play in the first after getting McElhinney to bite on a fake before skating around the net and finishing on a wraparound with the netminder out of position.

Matt Martin didn’t record Toronto’s third shot on net until near the 14-minute mark of the period and it turned out to be the only save of the night for Howard.

Matthews chased Howard from the Wings net with 4:14 to play in the first, snapping a shot past him from almost the exact same spot Kadri did to open the scoring. Mrazek didn’t fare any better, with Brown beating him through a screen on the first shot he faced — 40 seconds after Matthews’ goal.

Blues 5, Blackhawks 2

ST. LOUIS

Jaden Schwartz had his third career hat trick to help the Blues beat the Blackhawks.

Schwartz has four goals and six assists this season and has at least one point in six of the Blues’ first seven games. It was his 51st career multi-point game and fourth this season.

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, Kyle Brodziak also scored, and Jake Allen made 22 saves. The Blues snapped a two-game losing streak

Duncan Keith and Ryan Hartman had late goals for Blackhawks, and Corey Crawford made 28 saves.

Schwartz opened the scoring at 4:46 of the first period, tucking in a backhander off Tarasenko’s feed.

Schwartz left the game eight minutes later after going awkwardly head-first into the boards after getting tangled with Richard Panik on a partial short-handed break.

Schwartz returned in the second period, and gave the Blues a 2-0 lead at 5:59. Allen’s outlet pass off the boards created a 2-on-1 with Schwartz and Sammy Blais. It was Allen’s fourth career assist.

Tarasenko made it 3-0 two minutes later, scoring his fifth of the season by stripping Artem Anisimov in front of the Chicago net.

St. Louis outshot Chicago 26-8 in the first two periods, including 17-4 in the second. The four shots in each of the first two periods were a season low for the Blackhawks in a period.

Brodziak scored at 7:01 of the third. It was the first time this season the Blues’ third or fourth line scored.

After Keith and Hartman scored for Chicago, Schwartz completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal.

Blackhawks television analyst Eddie Olczyk, who is battling colon cancer, received a standing ovation from the crowd of 18,752 after being recognized late in the first period. Olczyk was back in the booth for the first time since his diagnosis in August.

Associated Press