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SCOTIABANK NHL CENTENNIAL CLASSIC: MAPLE LEAFS VS RED WINGSJanuary 1, 2017Mitchell MarnerAuston MatthewsToronto, Ontario, Canada Toronto - 5, Detroit - 4, OT Q. Auston, what exactly is your outdoor game experience background, and would you do it again given the fun you seemed to have tonight? AUSTON MATTHEWS: Yeah, I seem to be getting that question a lot the last couple days. I mean, I've played outdoor hockey before, probably just like everybody else. I lived in (inaudible) for two years so played quite a bit in the winter when we had time, so it was a blast out there, a lot of fun, the setting, two original six teams going at it against each other, so it was a pretty fun night. Q. Auston, can you sort of describe what the first two periods were like and then how would you put into words what the third period and overtime ended up being? AUSTON MATTHEWS: Yeah, the first two periods, a little -- pretty defensively structured by both teams, not too much space out there, so you kind of just were taking what was given, and the third period kind of opened up a little bit, we were able to score a couple quick goals, a couple big goals, and momentum kind of switched again and they were able to come back. Regardless, obviously you don't really want to be in that position that we were in, but it's good to get the two points. Q. Mitch, I understand you guys took a bus over together before the game today. What did you see when you pulled up to the stadium and how did the sort of anticipation of this game feel compared to a normal game? MITCHELL MARNER: Yeah, it's obviously a lot different. Usually me and him are carpooling in all of our cars just to the ACC. But a lot of people walking around in Toronto and Detroit jerseys. Like he said, original six teams going at it, a couple years ago being in Detroit and now being in Toronto, the fan base is awesome today for both sides, and it was great to be a part of. Q. Auston, when you look back later tonight on the overtime winner, what's going to go through your mind when you think about being able to score the overtime winner in your first outdoor game in front of over 40,000 people, which was probably I would think the largest crowd you've ever played in front of? AUSTON MATTHEWS: Yeah, for sure, definitely one of the best moments in hockey I've ever experienced for myself. It's pretty special. All 23 guys out there I think -- we played a real solid game tonight, and when it's a Winter Classic game, it's a little bigger setting, like you said, a lot more fans, kind of that national stage. For us to come out and get that win was a pretty exciting game. I think people were on the edge of their seats there in the third period and overtime, so it was just really fun to experience this whole thing. Q. Coach was saying that he considers blowing the lead in the third period to be another learning experience for you guys. How do you look at what happened in the third and taking it forward the rest of the way? AUSTON MATTHEWS: Yeah, just little things we've got to clean up. I think we just can't let our foot off the gas in these types of games. When you get up goals, we've kind of done it a couple times this season, and I think it's just part of the whole learning process with such a young team. But it's really no excuse, but we don't want to find ourselves in that position much more here. We're a pretty resilient group, so we battled back and were able to finish it off in OT. Q. Mitch, where would you say the confidence of this team is in the first day of camp this very moment after this win, five-game win streak within reach of a playoff spot? MITCHELL MARNER: Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. You know, we've got a lot of young guys on our team that are all experiencing this together, and there's still a lot of guys from that team that made the Playoffs and had that heartbreak against Boston. We all want to make the Playoffs and obviously go far in them, and we've just got to take it game by game so far. Obviously giving up leads in the third is not what we want to do, but I think now we're learning how to win those games, and teams come back on us, so that's important. But we've got to stop getting in the habit of that, I think. But we've just got to take it game by game and make sure we're ready to play every game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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