Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Today on NBC: The 2012 Winter Classic

2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic - Alumni Game

PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 31: A general view as the Philadelphia Flyers play against the New York Rangers during the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game on December 31, 2011 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Getty Images

This is it, today is the day we take it outdoors for all the action between the Rangers and Flyers (coverage starts at 1 p.m. ET, game time 3 p.m.). It’s Winter Classic day in Philadelphia and for both sides, the drama level is rather low for now.

The Flyers got all of their excitement out of the way yesterday when Ilya Bryzgalov announced that he wouldn’t be starting and Sergei Bobrovsky would get the call instead. While Peter Laviolette never confirmed that to be the case himself, the Flyers confirmed last night that Bobrovsky would be the man.

Things are a lot more simple for the Rangers who see Henrik Lundqvist get the call in goal while coach John Tortorella keeps his lineup the same. That means we won’t get a surprise start for Marc Staal, so there won’t be a surprise Staal comeback for the second Winter Classic in a row.

As for the stars in play here, NHL points leader Claude Giroux leads the way for Philly and having future Hall Of Famer Jaromir Jagr on his wing helps make his line with Scott Hartnell the one to watch for Philly. New York rolls with captain Ryan Callahan as well as big point scorers Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik.

Both teams are coming into today’s game with questions on defense and notable absences which should help open things up just a little bit more. Seeing a ton of goals in the Winter Classic isn’t something we’ve seen in the past and today’s game doesn’t figure to be any different.

Weather watching: The weather for the game should be just fine. Weather.com says the game time temperature will be around 40 degrees with a minimal chance of precipitation and breezy conditions. If you’re worried about the ice, don’t be, neither of the teams have any complaints about that.