In an idyllic setting, Jake DeBrusk scored twice in the Boston Bruins’ 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Winter Classic on Monday at Fenway Park.
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In front of the “green monster” of the home of the Boston Red Sox, members of the two teams of the Eastern Conference wore retro-looking jerseys and took advantage of the mild weather during this 14th edition of the outdoor game beginning of the year.
Historically, the Winter Classics don’t often result in offensive festivals. Penguins and Bruins players followed that tradition by struggling to find the back of the net… with the exception of DeBrusk.
The Edmonton native first tied the game in the middle of the third period by skilfully cutting in front of the net to deceive the vigilance of Casey DeSmith. Then, with 2 min 24 s. to do at the meeting, DeBrusk dealt the fatal blow to the “Pens” after a great breakthrough from Taylor Hall.
Mike Sullivan’s men came within a hair’s breadth of a tie at the very end of the duel, but there was no time left on the clock when they threaded the needle.
Moreover, it was not DeSmith who started the meeting between the Penguins posts, but Tristan Jarry. The latter was forced to forfeit before the first intermission, after being injured while making a routine stoppage.
DeSmith stopped 19 of the Bruins’ 21 attempts. Opposite Linus Ullmark continued his dream season by stopping 26 pucks in the win. Kasperi Kapanen was the only one to demystify it, from the enclave, in the middle period.
A special ceremonial face-off
Before the first whistle, the captains of the two teams, Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron, found themselves at the center of the ice to proceed with an extraordinary ceremonial face-off.
In addition to the latter, Bruins legends Zdeno Chara, Johnny Bucyk and Bobby Orr took the break, as did two-time World Series champions Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield.
Rather than gently laying the puck between Bergeron and Crosby, as is customary, Orr aimed for Varitek’s baseball glove with a wrist shot.
