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Yes, Sergei Bobrovsky is starting

After Ilya Bryzgalov let the cat out of the bag that he wouldn’t be starting the Winter Classic and Peter Laviolette wouldn’t tip his own hand, the truth is out.

Sergei Bobrovsky will get the start in today’s Winter Classic against the Rangers and for the Flyers it’s virtually a no-brainer choice given what’s been going on lately in goal. Bobrovsky has been lights out in his last few starts putting up monster numbers while Bryzgalov has been miserable with a goals against average higher than a middle reliever’s ERA in baseball.

That’s isn’t going to get it done and with such an important divisional game against the Rangers, they need the two points. As it was, Flyers players were supportive of the move to start Bobrovsky as Kimmo Timonen told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman.

“You reward the players who play well, work hard,” added defenseman Kimmo Timonen. “It doesn’t matter. If it’s Winter Classic or whatever, it doesn’t matter. It’s fair for everybody. The way he played in Pittsburgh, I think he was calm and he played with confidence. As a player, you can tell when your goalie has that confidence and he has that right now. Hopefully he can keep it up because it makes our life easier when the goalie plays well.”

A common sense move shouldn’t generate this much controversy but with Bryzgalov becoming the star of HBO’s 24/7, his profile is higher than ever. Bobrovsky will be out to prove that Laviolette didn’t make the wrong decision.