Centennial Classic Pool Review

For a game that appeared to have some pretty good conditions, clear skies and no snow, both the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs were scoring at a rate, which looked as though the elements were wreaking havoc on the game.  No, both teams were skating quite well, physical play was up, but neither team were peppering their opposition goalies.

Although the Red Wings opened the scoring in the 2nd, the game didn't really have any life until the 3rd period.  An early Toronto goal tied up the game right off the hop, which led to a pretty good fight between Matt Martin and Steve Ott and all of a sudden, the game had a little bit more feeling and edge.  Unfortunately for the Red Wings, that early lead meant nothing the feeling was over on the other bench.

The Leafs went bucky after that fight and tallied three more goals in the 3rd period to drive the score up to 4-1, before the Red Wings could finally get offensive zone time and a Jonathan Ericsson goal made it 4-2 with six minutes left.  It's funny how much this game is based on momentum, because the tide was turned on that goal, as Tomas Tatar tallied five minutes later and then with a second to go, Anthony Mantha tallied his second of the night to push the game to overtime.

The comeback didn't quite go all the way, however.  A feverish overtime period saw the home team pick up a rare outdoor win, as Auston Matthews got his second goal of the night, 20th of the season, to win it for the Maple Leafs and 2017 goes off with a pop, pop, bang, bang!

So, how did it all break down in this one?  Fortunately, this one was of the better outdoor games in the hockey pool and we're so lucky that we have a mini game for it or else who would really care?  In total, there were 26 points available from all the scoring tonight and we were able to collect 15 of them, which is great.

Scott and Marcin led the way in this game, each coming away with 3 points each.  Scott had Auston Matthews, who had a pair of goals, and William Nylander, who had an assist, while Marcin had Henrik Zetterberg on the other side, who tallied 3 assists.  Troy, Marcie and Kristy & Don all had a pair of points each in the game while Dale B., Grant and Clayton all got on the board with a single.

In the grand scheme of things, Marcie now extends her lead in this mini game to 3 points, as her team has 6 points, compared to both Scott and Marcin, who each trail with their 3 points from today.  Stacey C. didn't get any help, still in the mix, while Jeremy's 1 point from the Heritage Classic still has him on the board too.

We won't have to wait too long, as the Winter Classic goes tomorrow, which will set the stage for the last outdoor game, which will be the Stadium Series game in Philadelphia, later on this year.