January 1st NHL Recap

Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Detroit Red Wings 2 (SO) - (from Detroit) - The Leafs improved to 21-16-5 on the season thanks to a 3-2 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings, dropping them to 18-14-10.
Goals:
DET - Daniel Alfredsson (11) - from Henrik Zetterberg and Brendan Smith (13:14 2ND)
TOR - James van Riemsdyk (15) - from Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf (19:23 2ND)
TOR - Tyler Bozak (5) - from Dion Phaneuf (4:41 3RD)
DET - Justin Abdelkader (5) - from Brendan Smith (14:28 3RD)
Shootout winner - Tyler Bozak (TOR)
Goalies:
WG - Jonathan Bernier (41 saves on 43 shots: 13-11-4) LG - Jimmy Howard (24 saves on 26 shots: 6-9-8)
Three Stars:
3. Brendan Smith (2 assists) - Detroit
2. Tyler Bozak (1 goal, shootout winner) - Toronto
1. Jonathan Bernier (41 saves on 43 shots for the win) - Toronto

Tampa Bay Lightning 4, Vancouver Canucks 2 (from Vancouver) - The Lightning improved to 24-12-4 on the season thanks to a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, dropping them to 23-12-7.
Goals:
VAN - Brad Richardson (8) - from Chris Higgins (11:25 2ND)
TBL - Valtteri Filppula (15) - from Teddy Purcell and Alex Killorn (15:27 2ND)
TBL - Tyler Johnson (11) - from Ondrej Palat and Mark Barberio (15:47 2ND)
VAN - Zac Dalpe (1) - from Dale Weise and Tom Sestito (16:01 2ND)
TBL - Nikita Kucherov PPG (4) - from Radko Gudas and Matt Carle (19:57 2ND) *GWG*
TBL - Alex Killorn (10) - from Victor Hedman and Valtteri Filppula (7:28 3RD)
Goalies:
WG - Ben Bishop (28 saves on 30 shots: 21-5-3) LG - Eddie Lack (29 saves on 33 shots: 7-3-1)
Three Stars:
3. Ben Bishop (28 saves on 30 shots for the win) - Tampa Bay
2. Alex Killorn (1 goal, 1 assist) - Tampa Bay
1. Valtteri Filppula (1 goal, 1 assist) - Tampa Bay

Three Stars of the Night:
3. Tyler Bozak - Bozak scored 1 goal and added the shootout winner in the Winter Classic.
2. Valtteri Filppula - Filppula had 1 goal and 1 assist in the Lightning's 4-2 win over the Canucks.
1. Jonathan Bernier - Bernier was the star of the Winter Classic, making 41 saves on 43 shots for the win.

Winter Classic Notes:
I was fortunate enough to attend the 2014 Winter Classic, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. The atmosphere at The Big House was crazy, as it didn't stop snowing the entire game. Here's some notes about the game:
-The 2014 Winter Classic was a home-run for the NHL, not only was it sold out but fans stayed there to the very end despite the weather. This was by far the best Winter Classic compared to all the previous ones.
-The crowd was a great split of a sea of red and a sea of blue, but in general I felt there were more Leaf fans and the Leaf fans were much lowder.
-Jonathan Bernier was sensational for the Leafs, the reason they walked away with 2 points.
-Snow was a huge factor in this game, it really limited puck movement and made it difficult for players to make passes/shoot the puck. Every commercial break they had a crew shovel off the ice (as it snowed the entire game) and each time this happened it was at least a 5 minute delay with all the snow
-James van Riemsdyk goal was a beauty, batting it right out of mid-air.
-I normally hate shootouts, but the shootout was a great way to end the game especially with the Bozak winning goal.
-The buzzer at 10:00 of the 3rd and 2:30 of OT was so stupid, and it might have cost the Red Wings an extra point. Zetterberg had a breakaway in OT and the buzzer went at 2:30, although both teams were clearly aware of this rule (due to one side of the ice being alot worse than the other) it was stupid and most of the fans had no idea what was going on.
-The announcer said "Bridgestone" far too many times throughout the game, yes we get it you are the sponsor but it was too often.
-Mike Babcock rocking a fedora was just awesome.
-Daniel Alfredsson was booed everytime he touched the puck, I love how this still exists even though hes not even on the Sens anymore.
-For how many people the Big House can fit, it is a much smaller stadium than it seems. The rows are so packed together that it made leaving/coming to seats very annoying.
-Overall it was a phenomenal experience that I will remember for ever.

-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff