Winter Classic 2018: New York Rangers vs Buffalo Sabres Full OT

The 2018 NHL Winter Classic (officially the 2018 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic) was a regular season outdoor National Hockey League (NHL) game that took place on January 1, 2018. The game featured the Buffalo Sabres matched up against the New York Rangers at Citi Field in the New York City borough of Queens, home of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets. The game marked the 10th anniversary of the NHL Winter Classic, as well as the second Winter Classic for each team, following the Rangers’ appearance in the 2012 event and the Sabres’ in 2008. It was the Rangers’ fourth outdoor game, having also appeared in the 2014 Stadium Series. J.T. Miller of the Rangers scored on a rebound in overtime to give the Rangers a 3-2 win over the Sabres. On March 15, 2017, Arthur Staple of Newsday reported that the game had been awarded to the New York Rangers. The Rangers originally had planned to play at Blaik Field at Michie Stadium on the campus of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York[1] but were unable to come up with an agreement to use that facility in time. Yankee Stadium, which hosted the Rangers’ games in the 2014 NHL Stadium Series, was ruled out for the Winter Classic because it hosts the Pinstripe Bowl a week before the event. Instead, the Rangers reportedly reached an agreement with Citi Field, home of the New York Mets baseball team, to host the event.[2] The same article identified the Buffalo Sabres as the Rangers’ opponent. The Sabres were also in negotiations to host the event, both because it marked ten years since the inaugural Winter Classic and because the 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships had already scheduled an outdoor game at New Era Field for late December 2017, which would have allowed the outdoor ice surface to be used for both that and the Winter Classic.[3] The Sabres were chosen as a thank-you gesture from NBC and the NHL for taking the risk on the inaugural Winter Classic in 2008, and the team’s poor performance and declining television ratings (at a time when the Winter Classic’s ratings are also declining) did not concern NBC.[4] On May 10, 2017, commissioner Gary Bettman officially announced that the 2018 Winter Classic would be played at Citi Field, and feature the New York Rangers against the Buffalo Sabres.[5] In order to maintain the tax-exempt status of the Rangers’ home arena, Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are designated as the away team for this game as a legal fiction. The tax exemption stipulates that it only applies if the Rangers do not “cease playing“ home games at MSG, generally interpreted as playing any “home“ game outside of MSG. Hence, the Rangers’ Stadium Series games in 2014 were also subject to this fiction, and all games that the Rangers play at neutral sites (such as the 2011 NHL Premiere) have likewise listed the Rangers as the away team.[6][5][7] Despite being the designated home team, the Sabres will wear a white throwback uniform during the game (current NHL custom has the home team wear color and the away team white). The uniform is primarily based on the Sabres’ 1970s jersey and colors, with some elements borrowed from the team’s Buffalo Bisons-inspired 40th Anniversary third jerseys from 2010-12.[8] The Rangers will wear navy blue jerseys with the diagonal “RANGERS“ lettering on the front of the jersey in white, inspired by the lettering worn by the team in the late 1920s, with the sleeve and waist striping inspired by the uniforms of the early 1930s.[9] Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st NYR Paul Carey (5) Jesper Fast (10), Cristoval Nieves (7) 4:09 NYR 1-0 NYR Michael Grabner (18) Kevin Hayes (8), J. T. Miller (19) 8:20 NYR 2-0 2nd 3rd Number in parenthesis represents the player’s total in goals or assists to that point of the season Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st BUF Zach Bogosian Roughing 00:38 2:00 NYR Brendan Smith Tripping 13:59 2:00 NYR Kevin Hayes Hooking 17:27 2:00 NYR Nick Holden Hooking 19:37 2:00 2nd 3rd