Auston Matthews backhanded the puck into the net in overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 5-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings in the 2017 Centennial Classic. Matthews scored twice in the game as the Maple Leafs woke up in the 3rd period.
7 of the 8 regulation goals came in the 3rd period. Leo Komarov finally got the Maple Leafs on the board with a close-in goal at the 1:23 mark in the 3rd period. Toronto scored 3 goals in 3:42 with Mitch Marner, Connor Brown, and Matthews. But as Maple Leafs fans know, a 3-goal lead isn't always safe. Detroit's last of its 3 straight goals came at the 19:59 mark. The refs apparently decided at the end that was goal was in time and there was no goaltender interference. The U.S. analysis left the audience with more questions than answers.
The Centennial Classic easily outdrew every other major event at BMO Field with an attendance of 40,148. The NBC coverage didn't touch on the attendance. The sightlines looked great from what we could see on TV.
What you need to know for the 2017 Centennial Classic
BMO Field in perspective before the 2016 Grey Cup
Montreal Canadiens 2016 Winter Classic champs
The NHL insisted that the name of the stadium be Exhibition Stadium for the event. Rogers Sportsnet and NBC said BMO Field throughout the coverage.
The 30-minute delay wasn't even that bad as the top 100 players ceremony took up about half of that time. BMO Field looked great in the sunshine and the temperature was ideal for the outdoor contest.
The NHL Network did simulcast the Rogers Sportsnet pregame show so we did get some Canadian coverage after all. Scott Morrison had a really nice essay on the Maple Leafs last championship in 1967.
While that was appreciated, I only discovered accidentally that the NHL Network was running a pregame. I tuned into the NHL Network for what I hoped was postgame. The channel eventually showed the winning goal in the postgame slot, but spent more time on MLB Network analysts playing hockey. That was a drop of the puck or ball in a lack of postgame coverage.
| Year | Date | Stadium | Away | Home | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | November 22 | Commonwealth Stadium | Montréal | Edmonton | 4–3 |
| 2011 | February 20 | McMahon Stadium | Montréal | Calgary | 0–4 |
| 2014 | January 1 | Michigan Stadium | Toronto | Detroit | 3–2 (SO) |
| 2014 | March 2 | BC Place | Ottawa | Vancouver | 4–2 |
| 2016 | January 1 | Gillette Stadium | Montréal | Boston | 5–1 |
| 2016 | October 23 | Investors Group Field | Edmonton | Winnipeg | 3-0 |
| 2017 | January 1 | BMO Field | Detroit | Toronto | 4-5 (SO) |
The road teams do much better in these outdoor games. The Maple Leafs went against the grain and actually won at home. A Canadian-based team has played a U.S.-based team 3 times in an outdoor game and has won all 3 times.
Montréal may get a chance to once again play on the road in an outdoor game in December in Ottawa. If that is the matchup, then the Canadiens will be the only Canadian-based team not to host an outdoor game.
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NBC made a smart move to use Brian Boucher as little as possible. But what little he provided made you wonder why the network paid for him to come to Toronto. His home plate analogy would have been cute had he noted that the Toronto Blue Jays first baseball stadium was on the site where he was standing. But the segments were useless. His fellow NBC announcers wondered where Boucher was at the end of the game; Boucher was not heard from again.
"As recently as last year, fans showing up with bags on their heads."
Had Boucher said hockey sweaters thrown on the ice, that still would have been a cheap shot but a more truthful cheap shot. He might technically be correct but I won't be convinced without significant proof. The sweaters were the bigger issue. The better question is why a cheap shot was used.
NBC/NBCSN has shown its lack of interest about Toronto, outside of Auston Matthews. When the network brings in people such as Boucher who literally know less than I do about the Toronto Maple Leafs, the network should hire me. Seriously. I could have done everything better than what Boucher did for as long as he lasted. And I would have stayed for the whole game. I am not bragging; just a fact.
Elliotte Friedman referred to that time for the Maple Leafs in the pregame show. Friedman's analysis was more civilized, more thoughtful, more relevant, and more truthful. But he didn't pull any punches. Classy analysis was out there, just not from Boucher.
John Forslund and Pierre McGuire filled their usual tired roles. McGuire was so much better with TSN. Forslund did say some nice things to say about BMO Field, and even mentioned Toronto FC and the Toronto Argonauts.
Chris Cuthbert would have brought out more from McGuire. Still a mystery as to why he wasn't used.
NBC loved its look at Dylan Larkin and Auston Matthews so much the network ran the segment in the pregame and 2nd intermission. The network had a Wayne Gretzky interview and tried to cram in 1½ songs by Bryan Adams all in the 1st intermission. Would have been smarter to hear more of Bryan Adams in the 1st intermission and more of Gretzky in the 2nd intermission.
David Amber had a much meatier interview with Gretzky during the pregame, and that was with Gary Bettman in between.
The segment on the young players referred to Andi Petrillo as a "Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster." Petrillo has worked for CBC, the NHL Network, and TSN since Rogers gained control of Hockey Night in Canada, but she hasn't worked on the program since the spring of 2014.
Jeremy Roenick got to do what he does best: interviews with the crowd. Roenick was in and out of the crowd. That was the best part of the NBC coverage without question.
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We got a peek in the pregame into Around the Table, a segment Sportsnet does with President's Choice. Colby Armstrong talked with Leafs legends Darryl Sittler and Wendel Clark at the old Maple Leaf Gardens. They go into what is now a Loblaw's on Carlton Street in the space of the original ground floor at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Upstairs, the conversation continues. Armstrong brings up the fact that players had to pay for parking. The other players talked about how they had to get past fans to get to their car after the game.
I've been to that Loblaw's; it's a very nice grocery store. Many, many years ago, I was there for a Maple Leafs game.
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The alumni game was more exciting at times than the regular game. Mike Palmateer made an incredible stop on a Detroit penalty shot early in the 1st period. Palmateer had to come out of the game. Kris Draper and Gary Roberts had a small battle in a normal game but was huge in terms of an alumni game.
The Red Wings winner late in the 3rd period came from Draper on a rebound from a Dino Ciccarelli slap shot. The Maple Leafs were under the impression that slap shots weren't allowed. Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson actually debated over whether Ciccarelli used a full slap shot. They both concluded correctly that it was a full slap shot.
Simpson played for Edmonton in the alumni game in Winnipeg in October and brought that recent expertise into calling the alumni game in Toronto.
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photos credit: NHL/NBC/Rogers Sportsnet
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