Deke-deke-deke-deke-deke-deke.

Half a dozen shifts of the head, hips, shoulders — all of Phil Kessel’s significant body parts twitching, confounding the goalie, puck on his stick from the red line, beneficiary of a penalty shot awarded.

Thinking . . . uh, nothin’ much.

“Thinking, hopefully I would score. I just kind of went down and took what I saw.’’

A near-replay of what had transpired just moments earlier, except without ex-Leaf Ian White on his tail hounding and pestering, denying Kessel the clear shot to which he was entitled on a breakaway off a gorgeous stretch pass to the tape from Tim Connolly.

Kessel is one-for-two on career penalty shots now; whiffed it last time whilst still a Boston Bruin.

It was instant drama with just 4 1/2 minutes gone on this Saturday Night Special at the Air Canada Centre, the penalty shot still a thing of eye-widening spectacle, for all that the one-on-one challenge has been diminished, rendered common, by OT shootout gimmickry.

And that was just the start of it — Toronto’s unanticipated manhandling of the mighty Red Wings, the best period of hockey they’ve played all season, worthy of that 4-3 final if decidedly limp and overwhelmed through the middle frame.

Fingers crossed there will be a replay of breathless Leafs-Wings hockey, in the great outdoors, come January 1, 2013. A well-placed league source tells the Star there is a “90 per cent’’ likelihood these forever rivals will be featured in next year’s Winter Classic, a cross-border, cross-conference al fresco showpiece.

But, about last night . . .

Just four minutes after Kessel hot-diggedy-dogged it, Dion Phaneuf — face-struck mug encased in a bubble shield — ripped a zinger from the point for an unassisted power-play goal that froze Jimmy Howard, looking for the 100th W of his career. Still looking.

A few more 60-second spins of the clock, after Jonas Gustavsson made some acrobatic blocks in the Toronto net and the play swung in the opposite direction, three Leafs swept down the ice, Kessel to Joffrey Lupul to David Steckel and bang-bang-bang, the Leafs have a 3-0 lead. On the Red Wings. Golly.

Lost the lead, yikes, got it back for keeps off Lupul’s backhand at 7:10 of the third and nail-biting through to the buzzer, with Howard on the bench and Gustavsson heroic.

Well, it takes 60 minutes, minimum, don’t it? And the Wings came to their senses in the middle frame, schooling the Leafs on how to dominate play in the opposing zone, reminding that they remain the best five-man passing unit in the league and have been for, oh, about two decades.

“When we were (up) 3-2, it was kind of a sombre mood in here between periods,’’ admitted Lupul in the dressing room afterwards. “They hemmed us in our zone and didn’t turn the puck over at all.

“It’s just nice to beat a really good team playing at the top of the game.’’

Did I say unanticipated, a few paragraphs above? Take it back. These Original Six rivals — the vivid red and white, the vivid blue and white, classic and classy contrast — bring out the best in each other. At the very least, their encounters bring out the best in the Leafs, in their own barn.

While the Wings may have won more games than any other team in the NHL since the locked-out season of 2005 (776) and, ahem, the Leafs haven’t made the playoffs since, Toronto can boast mastery of the visiting Motown crew, winners now of four in a row when the Wings come knocking north of the border, dating back to Nov. 16, 2002.

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The Leafs have been rather a nemesis for the team with the wheel on its crest. And, of course, we’ll always have ’93 to rub in their noses.

Pity, then — huge shame of it — that these clubs only meet once a year, ever since Toronto departed the Western Conference. A Winter Classic would be a huge solace and draw like crazy from Michigan and southern Ontario. It’s this close to happening, according to the Star’s Deep Craw.

Alas, the game won’t be in Toronto because there’s no suitable outdoor venue, Rogers Centre proving yet again that it’s good for absolutely nothing, including baseball. Instead, the shivery mano-a-mano will be staged at Michigan Stadium, the Big House in Ann Arbor, home of University of Michigan, with a seating capacity of 115,000 and site of an outdoor NCAA game in December, 2010.

The Leafs have formally asked for all three marquee events on the hockey calendar next year: Winter Classic, all-star game and NHL draft. Winter Classic in 12 months’ time would be first on the agenda, and best odds, even with the Leafs as road invitees.

How cool is that?

More of hockey like Saturday night, wildly entertaining and wonderfully retro.

Up by three, Mike Babcock called a timeout and the uncharacteristically rattled Wings remembered who they were. Helped, of course, that Todd Bertuzzi was granted a stick-above-the-shoulder goal that shouldn’t have counted, except they never call those back on video review. That would make the officials, who called it good, look bad.

The Red Wings were quite majestic after that, knotting it 3-3 through a dandy third period, up-and-down, back-and-forth, Toronto finally giving back as good as it got, the hockey dazzling and heart-thumping, Lupul restoring the Leaf lead, unassisted, after pouncing on a puck behind the net.

Toronto’s third win in a row, three-for-three in 2012, racking up home-ice points and well back inside the playoff squish.

Detroit and Toronto started this game with an all-time record of 275-275-93. Hair-breadth advantage now to the Leafs.

Toronto needs more Detroit, indoors or outdoors.

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