Bruins-Flyers: Slow Start to Winter Classic

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter

To the surprise of many, the start of the Winter Classic, much like the crowd, has been very quiet thus far.

While chants of “let’s go, Flyers” resonated throughout Fenway, I was shocked the Bruins faithful were not more boisterous themselves. The stands were about even: half Bruins fans, half Flyers fans.

And then came the fight. Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton and Daniel Carcillo made Winter Classic history when they engaged in a fight at 12:01 of the first period. The fight itself saw Carcillo land a decent shot that knocked Thornton down.

There had been a lot of discussion about the Bruins and Flyers engaging in the first flight at the Winter Classic, with many players suggesting that neither team would go out of their way to make history.

Outside of the fight, the first period was highlighted by a tremendous save on a point shot from Dennis Wideman by Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton. To be fair, the save was a little embellished, but Leighton certainly sold the fans.

The first period also saw Bruins forward David Krejci and Oskars Bartulis receive off-setting minors for cross-checking at 15:22.

Chris Pronger sported some black paint under his eyes, as did a number of Flyers and Bruins players, looking every bit the part of a football player

Patrice Bergeron led the Bruins with two shots; Jeff Carter had two shots for the Flyers. Dennis Wideman led all players with 9:28 of ice time, while Kimmo Timonen led all Flyers with 7:28.

The Bruins outshot the Flyers by a 9-6 margin, raising concerns about the Flyers' lack of penetration in the offensive zone.

On the whole, it was a pretty tame first period, one that was uneventful and hardly a “classic.”

Until next time,

Peace!