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.
Only three games on tap for Sunday's action and one of them is one of the outdoor games, the Centennial Classic. The outdoor game won't face off now until just before 2pm MT, thanks to a sunny day in Toronto and they want to avoid the glare off the ice. Let's have a look at who will be starting in that one and the other two games of the day.
It looks like the outdoor game pool may get the shaft on one side of the ice, as the indications from Saturday's practice was that rookie goalie Jared Coreau would get the start, as he was practicing in the starter's net. That would be quite the upset for Stacey C., as his goalie, Petr Mrazek, is the only healthy pool goalie on the team, at the moment. The home teams don't fare so well in these outdoor games, but I don't think our overall leader, Brian, minds that going in, since he does get a start from his keeper, Frederik Andersen today.
The battle of nation's capitals goes tonight in Washington, with the Senators in to take on the Caps. Mike Condon has been given the green light for the visitors, while Braden Holtby will take the back half of the two games in two nights, with Philipp Grubauer going last night. Stacey C. does get a start here with his Waiver Draft pick-up, but he goes up against one of the best goalies in the league, which belongs to Jeremy. This will be a tough one, especially since Stacey is our current leader for the Basement Dweller.
The Anaheim Ducks will play host to the road weary and banged up Philadelphia Flyers tonight and the hosts will go with their number one guy, John Gibson, while the Flyers are still up in the air about who they will start. Steve Mason was hurt on Friday night and might prefer not to start tonight, but rather back-up Anthony Stolarz. At the time of the post, nothing had been confirmed on their side and they might wait until the last minute to make their decision.
