TORONTO -- Sometimes not even a four-goal third period is enough.

The Toronto Maple Leafs learned that Sunday afternoon in the great outdoors in the Centennial Classic against the Detroit Red Wings.

The Maple Leafs scored four straight goals in the third period to take a 4-1 lead, then needed an overtime goal by Auston Matthews, who also scored in the third, to secure a 5-4 victory and extend their winning streak to five games.

"We got a lesson here tonight and still won the game," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.

The Red Wings forced the overtime by reeling off three consecutive goals with the equalizer by Anthony Mantha at 19:58 'before a crowd of 40,148 at BMO Field.

It was the second goal of the game and ninth of the season for Mantha, who also had an assist.

Matthews scored his second goal of the game and his 20th of the season for the Maple Leafs at 3:40 of overtime.

"It's definitely one of the best moments in hockey I've experienced," Matthews said. "It's pretty special."

"It's disappointing losing, it's really disappointing losing in overtime," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "It's probably disappointing to fight your way back and not win but at the end of the day we came got way with a point. This league is about getting points and we need to get them as consistently as we can."

Leo Komarov, Mitch Marner and Connor Brown also scored for the Maple Leafs (17-12-4). Brown, Jake Gardiner and Zach Hyman each added two assists for Toronto.

"That was one of the more emotional games I've been a part of," Brown said. "One minute you're down going into the third and looking for a spark and we get four quick ones, then they come back and tie it up. They had the same kind of period. It was nice to come out on the right end of it."

Jonathan Ericsson and Dylan Larkin also scored for the Red Wings (16-16-5), who have lost two of their past three games.

"It was nice to see that we could rally and get back there in the third," said Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg, who had three assists. "Unfortunately, it got away from us earlier in the third. They took advantage of mistakes that we did (make) and scored some goals. A few turnovers. To be honest, I thought it was maybe five shifts we didn't play then way we should and they took advantage of it. We've just got to take with us what we did good."

Frederik Andersen stopped 33 shots in the Toronto goal.

Jared Coreau made 23 saves in Detroit's net.

The Red Wings scored at 5:33 of the second period when Mantha snapped home his first goal of the game from just above the top rim of the right faceoff circle.

The first two periods were tight checking.

The Maple Leafs tied the score 1-1 at 1:23 of the third period on the sixth goal of the season by Komarov, who was in front of the net when he knocked in Gardiner's pass from the corner.

Marner put the Maple Leafs into a 2-1 lead with his ninth goal of the season at 8:23 of the third period after he carried the puck from the left faceoff circle into the slot.

The Maple Leafs took a 3-1 lead on the seventh goal of the season by Brown at 9:34 from close in on a pass from Hyman.

"I played outdoors at Michigan so that was cool," Hyman said. "This is a whole new level; this is in my hometown. I never thought I'd be playing in a game like this and then you're in the game and it's just like you're playing another game, but it's not.

"It's awesome and it's a lot of fun. For Auston, he has 20 goals now, I think he had a lot of fun too and a lot of success. He had a great game and it's just fun to play with him.

Matthews scored his first goal of the game at 12:05 on a shot from the right circle.

"I never played an outdoor game before," Matthews said. "It was a blast out there."

Detroit came back with the first goal of the season by Ericsson at 13:54 to cut Toronto's lead to two.

With Coreau out of the net, the Red Wings scored at 18:14 on the 11th goal of the season by Larkin.

NOTES: The original starting time of 3 p.m. for the game Sunday was changed to 3:52 p.m. because of concern about player safety with the glare of the sunlight on the ice. ... The teams also met in an outdoor game in 2014 before a crowd of more than 105,000 at Michigan Stadium with Toronto winning 3-2 in a shootout. ... Sunday was the first of four meetings this season between the teams. The other game in Toronto will be played March 7 with the games in Detroit on Jan. 25 and April 1. ... The Red Wings will play their next game on Wednesday at Anaheim against the Ducks, the third game of seven in a row on the road. ... The Maple Leafs will visit the Washington Capitals on Tuesday for their next game.