LIANE HANSEN, host:
Two of hockey's biggest rivals met outdoors last night to play in what some call the Super Bowl of hockey. It may have been rainy and almost balmy at the Bridgestone Winter Classic in Pittsburgh's Heinz Field, but the sold-out event between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals excited hockey fans everywhere. The Caps ended up winning three to one.
Scott Burnside covers hockey for ESPN.com and he is on the phone from Pittsburgh. Hey, Scott.
Mr. SCOTT BURNSIDE (Sportswriter, ESPN.com): Good morning. How are things?
HANSEN: I want to ask you, did the game live up to its hype?
Mr. BURNSIDE: I mean, it certainly did. This was different from any of the other - the previous three Winter Classics. Obviously with the weather, always a storyline when you take a major sporting event outside. But the first time in the four-year history of the Winter Classics, of course, the start time was pushed back from 1 P.M. to 8 P.M. because of persistent rain.
And then the rain did fall periodically throughout the game, and was quite heavy in the third period. And I think, you know, will spark some debate about the legitimacy of doing this kind of event and what it means for the game.
But all-in-all, again, and I think another terrific storyline for what has become one of the most important events on the NHL calendar.
HANSEN: Yeah, it's been going on for four years now. This is the warmest one to date. How was the ice last night?
Mr. BURNSIDE: Well, I talked to a lot of players afterwards and I think surprisingly, perhaps, the ice wasn't all that bad. The puck didn't stick, which Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said he thought was going to be a real issue. It didn't. The puck did bounce a lot more. You had two of the game's top skilled teams on the ice. And you didn't see a lot of that skill on display, because of the rain and the puck bouncing. So you didn't see the kind of dramatic skill set that you might otherwise have seen.
But you did see a lot of shots on goal and a lot of action. And so, you know, it's - if your glass is half full it was still a pretty compelling game.
HANSEN: So the NHL actually chooses the teams to play. So what was special about this match-up between the Penguins and the Capitals other than, you know, like the distance on the turnpike?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BURNSIDE: Well, I mean, you do have a natural rivalry between, I think, the two of the game's most dynamic players. Sidney Crosby having a season for the ages, a season that is putting a lot of people in mind of Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux at their prime. He's running away with NHL scoring title.
Alexander Ovechkin not as dramatic this year points wise, but he is - and since the end of the lockout - has been the game's, I think, single most dynamic player, the way he plays, his personality. And the two have a natural rivalry. They don't particularly like each other. The Penguins defeated Washington in the playoffs en route to a Stanley Cup in 2009, in I think one of the - maybe one of the most compelling playoff series in recent memory.
So there is a natural rivalry. And then to take it all to a stage where 68,111 people are sitting in the rain on New Year's Day to watch them compete, I think this, yeah, this probably was as good a match-up as there's been in the Winter Classic four-year history.
HANSEN: Scott Burnside covers hockey for ESPN.com, and we reached him in Pittsburgh. Thanks a lot, Scott.
Mr. BURNSIDE: Any time. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.