LOS ANGELES — We’ve been waiting almost four months for Auston Matthews to show some rookie jitters.

On Saturday, as his all-star peers keenly watching his every move, he finally exhibited some.

With stars of the entertainment world, like Justin Bieber and Cuba Gooding Jr, in the stands, and Wayne Gretzky replacing the absent John Tortorella behind the Metropolitan Division all-star bench, all eyes were on the first-year Maple Leaf during the all-star skills competition at the Staples Center.

His first event was the relay race, a drill in which he was picked to participate in the stickhandling portion.

His opponent: Sidney Crosby, the defending Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

So there he was, for all to see, the normally sure-handed Matthews, dipsy doodling his way around weighted pucks.

Suddenly he lost control. Seconds later, he did it again.

“I was nervous,” Matthews laughed afterward. “But it was a great experience.”

Crosby silences young whipper snapper Matthews by hitting four targets in 10.73, eclipsing #leafs rookie's mark of 12.28 — Mike Zeisberger (@Zeisberger) January 29, 2017

Crosby can be partially blamed for Matthews having some on-ice yips. According to the Leafs centre, the Penguins star had been chirping him prior to the event about messing with his equipment.

When we approached the Penguins captain about it, Crosby fessed up.

“I told (Auston) to beware of using the stick I cut in half,” Crosby chuckled.

“Seriously though, that’s a hard event. It might look easy on TV to stickhandle around those things but it’s hard.”

Crosby would have the last laugh over Matthews again in the shooting accuracy event. Both players needed just five shots to smash four targets but Crosby did it in a quicker time of 10.73 seconds versus 12.28 seconds.

“I had a blast out there,” summed up Matthews.

Auston Matthews is very happy with going 4/5 in 12.28 seconds during the accuracy shooting component pic.twitter.com/XzAxXftqyn — Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) January 29, 2017

BIG HAT ATTACK

Before he stepped on a plane to head for the all-star game here in Los Angeles, Matthews was given an order by teammate Leo Komarov, the Leafs all-star representative of a year ago.

The request: Get headgear for the boys.

“I have to bring everybody back hats,” Matthews said. “I’ve got to bring them back or I’ll never hear the end of it from Leo.

“He probably told me 10 times. The whole week he’s been on me about it.”

Komarov would know all about hats.

Last year in Nashville, he was transformed from Uncle Leo to the Music City Maple Leaf after going shopping in a local fashion store and ending up with a cowboy stetson on his head.

At one point, Leafs TV captured Komarov tipping his cowboy hat while saying “Yee-haw!”

MATTHEWS ENVY

While Connor McDavid has played his way into being a frontrunner for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, he hasn’t been shy in offering lofty praise for Matthews.

Asked about what impresses him about Matthews’ shot, McDavid replied, “Just his quick release. It’s on his stick for just a half a second and then it’s off. And it’s more often than not in the perfect spot. I definitely admire that.”

As for Nashville Predators defenceman P.K. Subban, he’s complimentary of Matthews’ appearance. No, we're not making that up.

“He’s got pretty good mitts on him,” Subban said of the stickhandling abilities of the Leafs rookie during Sportsnet's broadcast. “And he’s not a bad looking guy either. He’s pretty good looking. He’s got the slick-backed hair. I liked that.”

Does Subban think a modelling career might be in the cards for Matthews?

“I could see him doing something for GQ,” Subban said. “That’s a crazy shout out but we’re in L.A. here. Give him a spread in there. Why not?”

TOP 100, LEAF STYLE

When the National Hockey League unveiled its Top 100 players of all time Friday night, the Leafs were well represented.

The final count showed 25 players — in other words, 25% of the entire list — wore Toronto blue and white at some point in their respective careers.

The elite group includes Borje Salming, Darryl Sittler, Mats Sundin, Ron Francis, Grant Fuhr, Mike Gartner, Brian Leetch, Eric Lindros, Joe Nieuwendyk, Bernie Parent, Syl Apps, Andy Bathgate, Max Bentley, Johnny Bower, Turk Broda, King Clancy, Charlie Conacher, Tim Horton, Red Kelly, Ted Kennedy, Dave Keon, Frank Mahovlich, Dickie Moore, Jacques Plante and Terry Sawchuk.

Also making it were two Leafs presidents: Ken Dryden and Brendan Shanahan.

SID, MEET SITT

Sittler met Crosby in person for the first time Friday night when both were named to the NHL’s all-time team.

And for these two stars of different generations, there is a common thread.

With Sittler holding the record for points in a game with 10 — a mark he established in 1976 — Crosby’s junior teammates started calling him “Darryl” in anticipation of Sid one day equaling that mark, if not eclipsing it. Crosby even had the name “Darryl” written in his gloves.

“People actually told me about the name in his glove when he was in junior and scoring five, six, eight points,” Sittler said. “He actually told me when we finally met (Friday) that his buddies still call him Darryl.”

LAST MINUTE OF PLAY

A photo of Matthews clowning around with Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson during the skills competition went viral on social media.

As such, Matthews was asked if the Sens star brought up the highlight-reel goal scored by the Leafs rookie in the first game of the season, one in which he skated around and through four Ottawa players including Karlsson.

"I didn't bring it up," Matthews said. "But he did earlier today."

Friends one day, foes the next.

mzeisberger@postmedia.com