NHL Winter Classic: 5 storylines from Canadiens-Bruins outdoor game

This time, the NHL will go to the home of the New England Patriots to see the oldest and best rivalry in the league, the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins, square off. The Habs dominated their historic rivals, earning a 5-1 win, representing the largest margin of victory for a Winter Classic game.

Matt Beleskey scored in the third period for the Bruins to prevent the first shutout in Winter Classic history. Unfortunately for the Bruins goaltender, his defensemen turned the area in front of Rask into a drive-thru.

Canadiens’ right winger Brandon Gallagher will be giving Montreal a surely much-appreciated boost when he returns from the injured list at the Winter Classic today, having last played on November 22, before breaking his hand and missing five weeks, according to ESPN. The Bruins beat Philadelphia 2-1 in overtime at Fenway Park in the 2010 Winter Classic, while Montreal has lost twice in the outdoor Heritage Classic. 2.

“This game was the most fun I’ve ever had playing hockey”, said Pacioretty.

Canadiens Celebrate Win At The Winter Classic. “We had to find something to get back into the game and it wasn’t happening”. They got the first goal and then I think that might have deflated us even more.

“One thing that we know with the line we put together at training camp and we start the year we get that chemistry as a team”, he continued.

After the Bruins cut the lead to 3-1, Rask allowed his fourth goal.

One would hope the Bruins take to heart both the cool atmosphere at the beginning of the once-in-a-lifetime experience at Gillette, and the feeling that they didn’t even begin to repay the 68,000 fans for the atmosphere those fans helped to create right at puck drop. “We’re back to the lines that were successful with the Plekanec line (Tomas Plekanec between Max Pacioretty and Gallagher) doing good, but also all the other lines”.

In fact, it may be that this game shows what the Bruins are really made of: do they fold after this embarrassment, or process it, learn from it and improve? “We’re not going to intimidate anyone, but they don’t intimidate us”.

Before a crowd of 67,246 on a cloudy day with the temperature for the opening faceoff at 40 degrees, the teams dodged the slushy ice that has greeted other Winter Classic events, including the old-timers and women’s exhibitions on Thursday.

Condon was arguably Montreal’s top performer, but all the players on the entire roster did their part in what was a complete team win. With the defending MVP and Vezina Trophy-winner sidelined since November 25, Condon’s stumbles had led the Canadiens to acquire goalie Ben Scrivens from Edmonton earlier this week, but the MA native stepped up to the task with plenty of eyes on him in a pretty grand homecoming game.