TORONTO _ By the time the Detroit Red Wings scored, the sky cast a dark, cozy canopy over the game.
The night look infused the outdoors game at BMO Field with intimacy as temperatures hovered in the mid-30s. During the first intermission, fans sang along with Bryan Adams as he struck up "Summer of '69."
The New Year's Day setting for the Centennial Classic didn't lack for atmosphere, and a wild third period added to the excitement. Anthony Mantha contributed his second goal of the game with 1.1 seconds left in regulation to provide a tie, after goals from Jonathan Ericsson and Dylan Larkin. The comeback fell just short as the Wings lost in overtime, 5-4, to the Toronto Maple Leafs before 40,148.
Mantha scored for the fourth time in five games and extended his point streak to six games. Jared Coreau earned the start on the strength of winning his last two games, and looked good until giving up two goals in 1:11 in the third period.
Mantha's eighth goal of the season provided a 1-0 lead going into the third period but Leo Komarov tied it at 1:27 when he went to the front of the net. Next came a tussle between Steve Ott and Matt Martin along the Wings bench; it didn't last long, but Ott had the last laugh as he blew Martin a kiss from the penalty box.
The Leafs smiled after taking the lead when Mitch Marner roofed the puck 7 minutes after Komarov's goal, and again when Connor Brown one-timed the puck at 9:34. Auston Matthews poured on the pain with a goal at 12:05. Ericsson halved the deficit when he one-timed a pass from Mantha and Larkin got the Wings within a goal with 1:46 left in regulation. Matthews scored again in overtime.
Bright sunshine left the ice so reflective the first puck drop was delayed until 3:52 p.m. A penalty on Brendan Smith in the opening minute segued into a bad start by the Wings, as they were unable to get out of their zone the first 5 minutes. Finally, Thomas Vanek, as he often does, found a way to get a shot on net. Halfway through the period, only Mantha had also funneled a shot on net, while Coreau had made eight saves, including one on Martin off an odd-man rush.
Even when the Wings did establish offensive zone time, they had a hard time getting the puck on net. It took a good shift from the Frans Nielsen line to double the shots from two to four, with about 3 minutes to go in the period. That sparked the best hockey of the period from the Wings, who finally figured out how to made Frederik Andersen work to the tune of nine saves in the period.
A power play early in the second period saw the same 2 minutes of futility as usual when the Wings have an extra skater. Then Henrik Zetterberg's line injected energy with a powerful shift that saw Zetterberg control the puck and send it to the right side, where Mantha picked it up and waited for a good shot to send the puck glove side on Andersen. The Wings had a much better second period overall, even as they squandered a second power play.
