2012 Winter Classic in The Books, Rangers Top Flyers 3-2

The 2012 edition of the Winter Classic is now in the books. The Rangers and Flyers went at it on January 2nd, since new years day was on a sunday it would have gone against the NFL, they went with January 2nd. In front of a nice, energetic crowd of 46,967 at Citizens Bank Park, the Flyers had a lead and blew it falling to the Rangers 3-2. Brayden Schenn got the Flyers on the board first at the 12:26 mark of the 2nd period. Philly upped the lead to 2-0 thanks to Claude Giroux's 18th of the year at the 14:21 mark. The Rangers respond 30 seconds later when Mike Rupp scored his send of the year and first of the night. Rupp capped of the scoring play by pulling a Jaromir Jagr special and saluting the crowd, which was a bit of a bold move but he was able to pull it off. So the Flyers held a 2-1 lead at the end of 2 periods but it would not last.

The Rangers got the game even thanks to Mike Rupp's 2nd of the night and 3rd of the year 2:41 into the 3rd. The game winner was buried at the 5:21 mark thanks to the 14th of the year by Brad Richards. The 3-2 lead would hold on for a final victory but it was exciting at the finish, including a penalty shot at the end of the game for Danny Briere which was stopped by Henrik Lundqvist. Flyers outshot the Rangers 36-33 in the contest but the Rangers took the two points and increased their first place lead over second place Boston.

Here are the highlights from the Winter Classic:




This year's classic was the 5th one done by the NHL since 2008, and this one had the lowest TV ratings of any of them, gaining a 2.4 rating. NOw this is the 3rd baseball park used for the game, the other trwo being Fenway Park in Boston for the 2010 classic and also Wrigley Field in Chicago for the 2009 classic. The 2008 classic was played at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo and in 2011 it was at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

Here are some interesting facts about the 5 winter classics to this point. Only once has the home team won a game in the winter classic, that was in 2010 when the hometown Boston Bruins beat the Flyers 2-1 in Overtime. Two teams have played in two games. The Flyers hosted this year and were the road team in Boston (above) the other was the Pittsburgh Penguins who were the road team in 20098 when they played the Buffalo Sabers and then hoasted the Washington Capitals in 2011. Two of the games hhave required overtime, 2010 in Boston was a 2-1 OT win for the Bruins and the 2008 game in Buffalo which was a 2-1 shootout win for the Penguins over the Sabres. Two of the games have been decided by two goals, 2009 in Chicago as Detroit beat Chicago 6-4 and in 2011 Washington beat Pittsburgh 3-1. Finally the first three years this game took place the road team in the contest had gone on to play in the Stanley Cup Finals. (That trend was broken last year when Washington was knocked out in Round 2 of the Playoffs)

Some final interesting info about the classic:

-The 2008 Winter Classic was colloquially called the "Ice Bowl" around Buffalo. As of 2011, it was also the only Winter Classic to have a shootout. It was voted the best Winter Classic in an NHL.com poll. It has been the only Winter Classic where the home team has worn white uniforms (Buffalo wore their 1970-71 away uniforms for the event).

-The 2009 Winter Classic was the first to feature two Original Six teams, as well as the first to be played in a baseball stadium.

-The 2010 Winter Classic was the first to be won by the home team. It was also the first without Ty Conklin as a goalie and Brian Campbell as a defenseman. Conklin played for Pittsburgh, and Campbell played for Buffalo in the 2008 Winter Classic. Conklin played for Detroit, and Campbell played for Chicago in the 2009 Winter Classic. This Winter Classic was also the first containing a fight, a bout that featured Philadelphia's Dan Carcillo scrapping with Boston's Shawn Thornton.

-The 2011 Winter Classic was the second involving the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was the first weekend Winter Classic and the first time the game was delayed from its original start time, thus the first to air in prime time. 2011 was also the first time it rained during the Winter Classic.

-The 2012 Winter Classic was the first game not played on New Years Day. The NFL played their final regular season games on New Years Day. The NHL scheduled for January 2, 2012 to avoid competing with the NFL and comply with NBC's contractual issues. It was the first to feature a penalty shot. Philadelphia also became the first team to lose in the Winter Classic twice.