martin runs into him. sticks high. drew miller attempts to wedge it out. as the crowd is certainly -- >> pierre: here we go skp. right in front of me. >> john: stay out of it, pierre. steve ott and matt martin. from the former new york islander, matt martin. >> pierre: talked about it before, matt martin understanding his role. you feel the energy from the crowd after that. ott understands his role as well. soshnikov with the big hit on drew miller. they didn't like that. matt martin didn't like some of the hits earlier. remember, it was auston matthews and steve ott understanding goes right afterat challenges him and off they go. >> john: this is how you see it. you can't get any closer, pierre. >> pierre: nope. both guys went after one another. i mean, listen, steve ott's not the fighter that matt martin is but really understands his role and he's a phenomenal teammate. >> john: and they continue to talk about it over here. >> pierre: and don't think that hit on auston matthews didn't get the attention of matt martin. >> john: yep. okay. he's one of the best agitators this game has ever seen. >> pierre: i remember one time when jarome iginla was in calgary, steve ott was in dallas -- oh, my god, something beautiful. >> john: along the boards now. brendan smith. along by anthony mantha. here's tomas tatar. it's offside. let's go again, he has a special guest or two. >> yeah, thanks, john. auston matthews' influence all over the country, all over the world has been evident. i have my friends here, jeff and alex carson from philadelphia. the philadelphia flyer fans. you came up to experience this for new year's with your son. tell us about it. >> just came up for the weekend. good way to start off the new year, be part of the 100-year celebration for the nhl. see a great game. nice weekend together. >> who are some of your favorite players in the national hockey league? >> giroux, mcdavid, auston matthews and my dad got me this jersey. >> what are your hopes and aspirations in hockey? >> hopefully one day get into college, play hockey in college and one day in the nhl. >> what position do you play? >> i'm a goaltender. >> you're a goaltender. maybe one day you'll go head to head with auston matthews in a shootout. how do you think you'll do that? >> maybe one day. i don't know. >> i wish you all the best of luck. listen, thanks for coming up and enjoying such a great new year's and great spectacle of hockey. even though you're philadelphia supporting hockey. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> back to you, john. >> john: thank you, j.r. >> pierre: how about the young man's poise? favorite player, claude giroux. he's a flyers fan, great answer by him. >> john: he might be able to stop auston matthews someday. not going to tell us how. >> pierre: all part of it. auston had the same dreams, shane doan, all those great arizo arizona coyotes back in the day. >> john: this weekend is celebration of world juniors here. the alumni game yesterday. today we commemorate 100 years, a season-long celebration in the nhl. >> pierre: this game, johnny, there really is. >> john: there is. kadri on ouellet. a shot goes wide from gardiner. it kar all the way back in toronto zone. >> pierre: screaming up the ice to kadri, drop it, drop it, drop direct pass. ericsson. knocked it down. detroit will jump on it. xavier ouellet. reverse here for jonathan ericsson. pass. nielsen. frans nielsen is away. he'll go wide. a trailer, nyquist. blocked by gardiner. danny dekeyser. dekeyser bottled up by nazem kadri. just about five minutes gone in this third period. both teams changing. gardiner. carrick off the boards, through center. van riemsdyk. tied up by smith. it's a foot race. roman polak ahead of riley sheahan. luke glendening down low. puck's free to the corner now. they'll reverse it inside. dylan larkin on a cycle. chased out by carrick. glendening. gets him. glendening with a shot. it goes high and deflects out of play. it's a new "celebrity apprentice" with the baddest boss in town, arnold schwarzenegger and all new celebrities including nfl stars ricky williams and eric dickerson. the new "celebrity apprentice" premieres tomorrow at 8:00, 7:00 on nbc. >> pierre: johnny, we are in a soccer building. look what they're doing, the wave around the building and the fans are loving it. it's awesome. >> john: this facility is really special, open corners for the atmosphere, we're right on the shores of lake ontario. and the sight lines are beautiful. perfect size for this type of an event. along the boards. see it pop out. by drew miller. moved along. kronwall. broken up. here comes nylander. he'll drag it. center. it's out of the reach of nikita soshnikov. >> pierre: what a miller coming back hard against a quicker kid, younger kid from sweden, nylander. >> john: detroit gets after it. taken down. toronto desperately tries to clear their own zone. they will. brought out at the line. soshnikov. feeds ahead. ericsson, shoulder to shoulder on zach hyman. from in back of the goal. good move by xavier ouellet. has a tough time finding the handle. he does now. ouellet will pump it in by andersen. back of the goal now. to the corner. hunwick. leaves it there. ouellet. shot blocked. toronto in control. roman polak. along the boards. here's zach hyman. by mantha. pitched out by dekeyser. hunwick is back in his own zone. we approach the seven-minute mark in this third period. now tied at one. tieing goal from leo take it back. >> pierre: mike babcock doesn't like that icing at well. matthews has been out there for a while. hyman's been out there for a while. connor brown been out there for a while. you see, he's not happy. oh, man, he wasn't happy at all. >> john: take a look at this alignment. matthews gets a little bit of time here. frans nielsen. playing well of late. face-off won by nielsen. vanek from the corner. he'll walk it. right out in front. paddle down for andersen. he sweeps it along. matthews pinned by vanek as they get to the corner. rolled up top. brendan smith. nielsen. blocked at the defense. cleared out of the zone that time by matt hunwick. frans nielsen. through the wandered down by andersen. vanek with a shot blocked again. as carrick got in the way. nielsen for vanek. thomas vanek. nobody home in the slot. he'll take it to the outside of carrick. and the leafs have control. nazem kadri handling that. leo komarov, taken down by brendan smith. no call. nyquist warming up on gardiner. throws on the brakes. shouldered hard. komarov coming all the way back. another heavy hit in the corner. nick jensen moves in. jensen. runs into a roadblock. nazem kadri. the leafs deep in their own zone play it off the glass and get it back out. through center ice. niklas kronwall plays it along. marner. in the zone. tyler bozak. shot denied. bo he'll crank it up. he'll stop. jensen now picks him up. to the point. this way. zaitsev. nikita zaitsev moves it in. to the top of your screen. morgan rielly for marner. look out. here he is. he scores! what a goal! mitch marner and toronto has a 2-1 lead. >> pierre: john, you've been talking about it all game long. mitch marner knows how to elevate and he does at a key time for toronto. long shift for nicholas jensen. tries to break the play. morgan rielly loses the stick. there's the escapeability and athleticism of mitch marner, stop, don't pop, keep moving to the inside and just watch it. look at the edge control. the balance and the quick release. you just don't teach this in hockey school. this is a gift. >> john: he, too, a toronto boy. markham, ontario. mitch marner, great hands, great presence of mind. and a 2-1 lead. leafs get it deep. coreau directing traffic. soshnikov, the steal. and coreau got back with help from his defense. he's lost his stick. goaltender, jared coreau. leo komarov to the outside of jonathan ericsson for the point. morgan rielly off soshnikov. coreau. using a skater's stick. in the meantime. the corner. controlled now by ouellet. >> pierre: using dylan larkin's stick. larkin went right to the bench. coreau's got his stick back. >> john: we saw that. now it's carried in by matthews. he'll circle the wagons, hold onto it, whip it through the connor carrick. looking for a lane. it goes high. connor brown in back of the goal. larkin's on him. now ouellet. trying clear. zach hyman goes to work on dylan larkin. the leafs, a great sequence. carrick goes wide. his shot stopped by coreau. brown in front. they score! connor brown set up by zach hyman. toronto with a 3-1 lead. >> pierre: johnny, there's one of the animals mike babcock talked about who insulates auston matthews. grind, skill, speed. zach hyman, another one of the animals. keep it alive. then the finish by connor brown. it's intensity, it's quickness, it's passion, and it's a finish. and when you think about how the period started, mike babcock and his intensity, matt then you saw the explosive nature of the toronto maple leafs and now detroit's called a time-out. right in front of the detroit bench. this crowd and this toronto team got awake after this. you just see, he's talking, see steve ott, yeah, i got you on film, but believe me, everything changed when babcock came out here. we talked about the intensity he showed. we talked about the fight with martin then you see the offensive eruption by this toronto maple leafs team. youth is being served. >> john: you called it. as soon as you saw babcock and the type of presence he had at the start of the period. and it's parlayed into this for his team. an explosion. goals that come 71 seconds apart. connor brown, the latest. icing is called >> pierre: yeah, there's one guy who's helped change it, here's another guy who's helped change. mike babcock. johnny, when we visited with him yesterday, i loved what he said. he said, you know what, we're not that far away from being really good. he is not a braggadocios sort, especially when dealing with the media. man, oh, man, was he confident yet. >> john: his team just five points out of a playoff spot. roman polak. mitch marner. from morgan rielly and james van riemsdyk. 8:23. then connor brown, from zach hyman. connor carrick. connor carrick will settle it down. goes d-to-d. through center ice. a step for komarov. a cut on the body. defended by dekeyser. brought along by william nylander. nylander leaves it kadri, broken up. brendan smith. here come the wings out to center ice. vanek into the shoulder by komarov. kadri down the wall. leo komarov in control. started the thee-goal explosion here in the third period. zetterberg. down in desperation, komarov. tatar drags it. right through. turned out by andersen. a couple of times. the follow-up by henrik zetterberg. nylander. dead center ice. it's kadri. in the zone. moving up on xavier ouellet. nylander. morgan rielly off a stick off ouellet. zach hyman from the corner. kadri in back of the goal. utilize the back of the cage. accepted by anthony mantha who sets up tomas tatar. three defenders back for toronto. detroit is offside. 8:55 left to go in this third period. the maple leafs heard from in the centennial classic. first it was mitch maer connor brown. toronto 3, detroit 1. taking a holiday in britain, are ya doll? well, the only place you need go... london's got the best of everything. cornwall's got the best of everything. sport sport nightlife nightlife (both) fashion adventure i'm tellin' ya, britain is the only everything you need to travel britain better. ♪ ♪ ♪ how else do you think he gets around so fast? take the reins this holiday and get the mercedes-benz you've always wanted during the winter event. now lease the 2017 gla250 for $329 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. our coverage of the centennial classic continues here in toronto. jo "inside-the-glass." brian boucher rinkside. along with kathryn tappen and jeremy roenick. the home team explodes to three in this third period. detroit had a 1-0 lead after two and a goal by anthony mantha. toronto goes low in the detroit zone. kronwall taken down. dylan larkin away from mitch marner. part of the three that have scored in this period. gardiner on the turning stick of mitch marner. deep in his own zone. it deflects out to center. tyler bozak goes cross corner. brendan smith is back first. it's moved along by kronwall. the point. held in by connor carrick. to the open corner. derek larkin now will wind it up. 8:14 left in his third period. detroit down by two. dylan larkin. floats it off the blocker of andersen. the offside jake gardiner for the maple leafs will play it along. the center zone. connor brown. has matthews this way. there he is. he scores! auston matthews. >> pierre: great scorers and great players get it. foot race situation, detroit's trying to open up. when they try to open it up, they're in trouble. auston matt withdrew dohthew op receive the one timer. b beauty of the play. present the target. on his stick, off his stick. that's brains and finish. >> john: 19th goal for auston matthe matthews. through center again. jensen. wrapping him up. matt martin. nick jensen, hard pressed in his own zone. gained by drew miller. pass ahead here for steve ott all the way across. picked off by matt hunwick. out to center ice. dekeyser coming back. icing is called here with 7:20 left. >> pierre: johnny, you just look at this. cream of the crop for nhl rookies. look at that. auston matthews. mitch marner. william nylander. i mean, and the hits keep coming. we don't even have connor brown on there. we don't even have zach hyman on there. >> john: right. >> pierre: i mean, it's just -- this team in toronto is poised to explode and they are going to make a very real serious push to be a playoff team in the eastern conference. >> john: that's why part of this line tonight is all about the past and you can't get any richer than the environment here. but it is so much about their future with toronto. the city is absolutely excited. three goals in 3:42. frans nielsen in control. detroit attempting to make a push now. kronwall. through center. nielsen, moving up by nylander. off the stick. gathered in by thomas vanek. down the wall he goes. weak side. there's brendan smith. hard time with it. a chance, andersen said no. nielsen in the dead slot. it's carried out by nylander. komarov from the front. a trailer. carrick. closing in. to the blue. all the way back. gardiner leaves it there. connor carrick again. here it comes. it goes wide. tip out in front. nylander frans nielsen now will sort it out for the wings. ahead for thomas vanek. detroit changing. that's why they come back with it. just about 14 minutes gone in this third period of the centennial classic. anthony mantha. stutter step. the big guy brings it this way. has detroit's goal. a shot. they score! jonathan ericsson coming late and detroit has life. >> pierre: yeah, you know, you got to give these guys a lot of credit. jonathan ericsson, henrik zetterberg, they're not going to let their team down. anthony mantha -- if they're doi going down they're going down with a fight. strong with a puck right out front. a one timer. through the screen of tomas tatar. really good job by anthony mantha, really starting to establish himself with a goal earlier then the shot through the screen by ericsson. now we have a game. we have a fight to the finish here now, johnny. >> john: the last player taken in the '02 draft, 4 his last goal. jonathan ericsson. now a two-goal deficit for detroit. still time left. just under six. zetterberg. moving on matthews. henrik zetterberg now. from the point. a shot. with traffic out in front. broken up. again, ericsson with that shot. comes all the way back. >> pierre: toronto is going to get more odd-man rushes, too, john, because detroit is clearly trying to open up the game. >> john: they're going for it, no question. now it comes back. icing is called here. tomorrow, celebrate the tradition of the bridgestone nhl winter classic. as the blackhawks take on the blues and they take it outside at busch stadium in st. louis. that's tomorrow at 1:00 eastern right here on nbc. we'll get you out of here in a hurry tonight, pierre. >> pierre: is there a better team in the league than the chicago blackhawks when it comes to understanding the importance of selling the game? >> john: yes. >> pierre: i mean, they do everything the league asks. chicago is an amazing franchise. really is. >> john: how great is it for st. louis to get this game? >> pierre: you heard wayne gretzky talk about it, it's awesome. >> john: ricochets around. it's dunked out. jonathan ericsson, first. anthony mantha has two points. dekeyser looks for vanek. shakes off the -- vanek has a man. a broken stick. otherwise who knows. frans nielsen all alone. nylander. centers one. a chance. coreau's got it. nazem kadri had the opportunity. 5:02 left in regulation time. 19-year-old auston matthews with toronto's fourth. since the dawn of time, steak has been the unquestionable master of the menu. so to perfect the perfect, we made the subway steak and cheese footlong we take lean steak - now triumphantly free of artificial preservatives and flavors... and we cover it with a heavenly blanket of cheese.... yes, cheese! feeling spicy? try it with chipotle southwest sauce. the subway steak & cheese footlong. now just. six. dollars. or is this your can's year? your can's thinking houston. don't jinx it! your can is houston. so dress like this guy and play like this guy. you can't catch me. broadway cans. breakout cans. cans with a whole extra man. whether you're wearing beads... stripes... or cheese. if you bleed blue, black and yellow, or various shades of red... this is your beer. beer with my team on it. ♪ if you're gonna make an entrance... [car driving upon the water] ♪ well, it's getting really close. i'm here with rachel who's a big detroit fan. you must have come here from detroit. >> i'm from toronto. >> how hard is it being a toronto fan here in detroit? >> it has its moments, but we're the better team. >> okay. you have a dylan larkin shirt on. right? what do you love about dylan larkin? >> he's a good player. he's fast and he's attractive. >> all right. well, listen, toronto just scored three goals in 3:30, so i think they need your help right now. >> we can do it. back into the crowd. attractive, pierre. >> pierre: i agree. >> john: we never go in, do we? >> pierre: no. >> john: out of the corner. it's tied up. all kinds of humanity over that puck. they'll continue that scrum. 4:35 left in this third period. toronto with a two-goal lead. brendan smith off the boards and out. here comes larkin on cue. dylan larkin drops it off. a chance taken. goes high. attempt now by mitch marner to get it out of the zone for the maple leafs. he does. see it come back. ouellet. start the break-out when we approached the 16-minute mark. the outside. tatar. matthews. toronto attempts to get it out. zaitsev. play it along the boards. it deflects out of play. we'll bring it to a halt and we'll go to a break. we're going down the stretch in the centennial classic. i had that dream again -- that i was on the icelandic game show. and everyone knows me for discounts, like safe driver and paperless billing. but nobody knows the box behind the discounts. oh, it's like my father always told me -- "put that down. that's expensive." of course i save people an average of nearly $600, but who's gonna save me? king ] and that's when i realized... i'm allergic to wasabi. well, i feel better. it's been five minutes. talk about progress. [ chuckles ] okay. welcome back to toronto. mike babcock during the last tv time-out brings everybody together. he knows detroit is going to put a push on, he was their coach for ten years. he was telling them establish a presence in front of our goalie and keep everything to the outside. >> john: 3:45 left. regulation time. brendan smith back to get it. his team down by two. keep an eye on jared coreau, see if jeff blashill goes with an rly hook. morgan rielly coming back. out of the corner along the boards. back out to center. frans nielsen. hard on the back-check that time on nylander, as it kicks around. nielsen back out. picked off by roman polak. zach hyman, a stick-check for nielsen on him. kadri. right back to the "d."