Matthews’ OT winner lifts the Leafs over Red Wings in Centennial Classic

By Jonas Siegel, The Canadian Press

In his first-ever game outdoors, Arizona native Auston Matthews scored a pair, including the overtime winner to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to their fifth straight win, a 5-4 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings in Sunday’s Centennial Classic at BMO Field.

The Leafs had a three-goal third period lead unravel before Matthews scored his 20th of the season in the extra frame.

Leo Komarov, Mitch Marner, and Connor Brown also scored in the win for Toronto (17-12-7), which last won five straight in Dec. 2014. Frederik Andersen turned aside 33 shots in victory.

Anthony Mantha scored a pair for the Red Wings (16-16-5), and Jonathan Ericsson and Dylan Larkin also found the back of the net. Rookie Jared Coreau yielded five goals on 28 shots.

An abundance of sunshine on the ice surface at BMO forced Sunday’s action to start 30 minutes late, but once it got going it was the Leafs that carried the play.

Nazem Kadri got the first quality chance in the opening minute when he eluded Wings defenceman Brendan Smith, who was ultimately penalized for tripping. Toronto failed to score on their power play, but still mustered nine of the first 11 shots on goal, all of which were stopped by Coreau, a Perth, Ont. native who was making only his fourth NHL start.

Coreau’s opportunity to start the Centennial Classic came as a result of Petr Mrazek’s struggles this season (.896 save percentage) as well an injury to Jimmy Howard, who had emerged as Detroit’s top option in goal.

Andersen, who had the NHL’s best save percentage (.948) and goals against average (1.66) in December, stopped all nine shots he faced in the opening 20 minutes.

Sunlight moved to the east bleachers by the time the game got underway. The weather, at a few degrees above zero, was ideal for an outdoor game.

Three years earlier, when the Leafs and Wings met at the Winter Classic at the Big House in Michigan (a 3-2 shootout win for Toronto), the conditions were brisk. A spate of snow, wind and cold made for an uncomfortable experience for the more than 100,000 fans in attendance.

It wasn’t an entirely full house at BMO with scattered empty seats among the 40,818 in attendance.

The rink itself was placed on a tableau of the No. 100, signifying both the centennial season for both the Leafs and NHL.

Ahead of Sunday’s game the NHL revealed the first 33 players on its 100 greatest players list, a group that included former Red Wing Gordie Howe and former Leaf Johnny Bower.

The Leafs took two penalties in the opening seven minutes of the second as the sun set, the latter after Mantha scored the game’s first goal. Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg helped get the play started, winning a puck battle against Matthews along the boards near the Toronto blue line.

The puck eventually found its way into the Leafs zone with Mantha’s shot beating Andersen over the glove. Matthews tried unsuccessfully to block the shot.

Toronto took a third penalty before the second was up, this one for too many men. The Leafs were on a power play when the call was made with Marner hopping on before William Nylander was deemed to have gone off.

Komarov got the home side on the board 83 seconds into the final frame. Fed by Jake Gardiner, who fetched a loose puck in the corner of the Detroit zone, Komarov stuffed his sixth goal of the year past Coreau.

The crowd, relatively quiet to that point, roared in approval. Many fans stomped their feet on the bleachers in a stadium used primarily for soccer and football.

They kept cheering when Marner put the Leafs ahead, storming past Mantha and into the slot before beating Coreau. Fed from behind the net by fellow rookie and Toronto native Zach Hyman, Brown scored 71 seconds later. Matthews added another goal, his 19th this year, a few minutes after that.

Ericsson and Larkin scored less than two minutes apart to cut the deficit to one. Mantha tucked a shot into the net with 1.1 seconds left in regulation. Andersen was down and out on the play after slight contact with Thomas Vanek in the crease.

The play was reviewed, but ultimately confirmed.

Hyman had a great chance to clear the puck before the goal, but could not get it past his Wings’ opponent.

 

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