So Classic.

Oh man, what a game. You can say it was not as much of a spectacle as the previous Winter Classics because of the weather, but to me, that made it all the more special. Cate was at the Winter Classic, so I will let her handle how the atmosphere of the whole event was in greater detail, but just from watching on the television I could tell that it was probably awesome to be there, no matter how much water was being dropped from the sky. The thing that pleased me the most was the mass amounts of red that I saw in the stands. Pittsburgh fans are a proud bunch and usually you do not see many of the opposing fans in their seats, but tonight was a much different story. The many loyal fans who were "Rockin' the Red" were just as loud and supportive as the fans in black and gold (oh, and blue for some reason). Pittsburgh fans are known for following their fans around, but we showed that Caps fans can do just the same if not better.

In a night that was all about Sid the Kid vs. the Great 8, how awesome was it that a player who even casual Caps fans don't know ends up being the hero for the boys. Eric Fehr scored two goals in last night's game. It was only his second multi-goal game, the first coming in 2009. The first goal came off a Marc-Andre Fleury "assist" and the second on a breakaway shot that Fehr did not mess around with. Instead of trying to deke out the super quick Fleury, he simply wound up and put it top shelf to help seal the deal for the boys in Red, White, and Blue. Just as a final note, if you listened to the very first episode of our show, I picked Eric Fehr as the breakout player of the year. Loos like someone has a good eye for talent ;)

The biggest aspect of this game was the weather. Shout out to the weather man working for NBC who said the rain would only last "another five minutes" midway through the second period. Way to keep the reputation of the weatherman ALWAYS being wrong alive, sir. Anyhow, the rain did seem to play a major factor in the game. By the start of the third period, the puck had a wake trailing behind it, and players were constantly falling on the ice for no reason. The rain seemed to enhance the rough and tough game that the Caps and Pens always seem to play when the rivals clash. Ovi broke the glass by hitting a Pens defender into it in the first few minutes. Erskine and Rupp scrapped to (in my opinion) an even draw in the first period, and from there, the hits kept on coming. With .6 seconds left on the clock, the Pens kept preventing the faceoff from happening by starting mini-scraps. It seemed as if they could not accept the fact that they had lost a sixth straight to the mighty Capitals in Pittsburgh.

The weather conditions definitely affected the goalies the most, and on this night, the man with the blue number one on his sweater rose to the occasion. Varlamov saved 32 of 33 shots and spearheaded a group that killed off 4 power players for the Pens. The more important thing, however, is that he did not make the key mistake. The same could not be said for Marc-Andre Fleury, who consistently came out of the crease and misplayed the puck. One of those mistakes ultimately led to the loss, as Fleury lost the puck to Marcus Johansson, who then gave it up to Eric Fehr for the easy goal. From all of us Capitals fans, I would like to thank both goalies for their efforts (mishaps?) in the Capitals' win.

One negative that came from this game was not a fault of either team or the weather. It was the NBC camera crew. The camera angles that were being shown to the viewing public were horrendous. I don't know if they got confused on whether or not it was a hockey game or football game or what it was, but they could not figure out that all the fans wanted was the simple side view. Granted, most of the game was presented in this format (as it should be), but they spent much of the game with weird canted angles from far away that made it impossible to see what was going on on the ice. Dumb it down a bit, NBC.

Those retro jerseys were amazing. The white with the red helmet and pants were awesome. I hope the Caps take a note from their rivals and use those jerseys in more games this season and in following years

Final note. Just a shoutout to the crew I watched the victory with and followed that up by beating the beat up and Applebees. Drew and Amy Hallman, Mike, Ryan, and Matty Brown, John Welsh, and Adam "Lucky Retro Jersey" Artuso. With this huge win, the Caps have officially gained their swagger back.