Marco Sturm’s goal at 1:57 of overtime lifted Boston to a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia on Friday in the NHL Winter Classic — the outdoor game that has found a New Year’s Day niche.
The Bruins became the first home team to win in the three-year history of the event — first conceived as a tribute to the game’s pond hockey roots.
Pittsburgh won the inaugural Classic at the Buffalo Bills Ralph Wilson Stadium and Detroit defeated Chicago last season at Wrigley Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Cubs.
This year saw the game at another storied baseball ground — Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox since 1912 — where Sturm delivered the ice hockey equivalent of a walk-off home run.
A near perfect day, with temperatures above freezing and overcast but dry skies, greeted the teams as they left their dugouts in front of a crowd of 38,112.
“The good Lord couldn’t have done better for us right now,” said NHL ice maestro Dan Craig, who was given the tricky task of maintaining optimum ice conditions in changeable outdoor weather.
Mark Recchi’s power-play goal for Boston with 2:18 to play knotted the score at 1-1 to force overtime.
Recchi redirected a Derek Morris centering pass — with Kimmo Timonen in the box for tripping — to send the Winter Classic to overtime for the second time in three editions.
Journeyman defenseman Danny Syvret had put the Flyers up 1-0 at 4:42 of the second period when his point shot got past Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas.
It was Syvret’s first NHL goal in 44 NHL games spread through parts of four seasons. Syvret started this season with the Flyers, was demoted then re-inserted into the lineup three games ago when Ryan Parent went out of the lineup with a lower-body injury.
In addition to the on-ice drama, plenty of pageantry marked the holiday game, with tributes to the 1960 and 1980 US Olympic hockey teams, appearances by former Boston star player Bobby Orr and Flyers legend Bobby Clarke and a pre-game flyover by a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.
SABRES 4, THRASHERS 3, OT
At Buffalo, New York, a crazy bounce off the glass allowed Derek Roy to score into an unattended net 4:02 into overtime, as Buffalo overcame a three-goal deficit for the second straight outing to beat Atlanta.
Jochen Hecht had two goals and an assist, Tim Connolly had a goal and assist.
Buffalo were coming off a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh on Tuesday in which they also rallied for victory from a 3-0 deficit.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set