By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – The Buffalo Sabres lost the NHL's Winter Classic at Ralph Wilson Stadium Tuesday 2 to 1 in an overtime shootout with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby scored the clinching goal in the shootout. Crosby skated down the middle, eluded a pokecheck by Sabres Goalie Ryan Miller and put a shot between Miller's pads.
Pittsburgh Goalie Ty Conklin, who played for the Sabres last year, allowed Ales Kotalik's goal to open the tiebreaker for the Sabres before stopping Tim Connolly and Maxim Afinogenov. Kris Letang also scored for the Penguins, pushing his shootout record to 4-for-4.
The atmosphere was electric for the first-ever NHL outdoor game in the United States. The announced crowd was 71,217, the largest ever to watch an NHL game.
"This is awesome!" said Michelle Adams as she settled into her seat in section 330, some 15 rows from the top of the top of the stadium. "This is so cool!"
The temperature was hovering around the freezing mark when the puck was dropped at 1:20 p.m. ET, but a brisk north wind made it feel colder. Snow fell at various times during the game. Play was stopped in each period to allow Zamboni machines to remove the snow accumulations.
Sabres Defenseman Brian Campbell scored the Sabres lone goal 1:25 into the second period. Colby Armstrong gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead just 21 seconds after the opening faceoff.