Winter classic: Crosby wins it under the snow.

The Ralph Wilson stadium in Buffalo was the theatre of the NHL Winter classic today as the Pittsburgh Penguins faced the Buffalo Sabres on a natural ice rink.

The event was presented under difficult weather conditions as it snowed heavily for the most part of the event. For this game, Pittsburgh was wearing a light blue jersey dating from their very first NHL season.

Today because of the quantity of snow on the ice, the game did not produce electrifying play. Many players had puck control problems, many passes were errand and the puck sometimes had a bouncing tendency. Sidney Crosby did manage to show some nice moves to the fans early on. As soon as the puck was dropped, Crosby took the puck towards Buffalo's net and allowed Colby Armstrong to open the score only a few seconds into the game.

Buffalo did manage to tie up the score early into the second period thru Brian Campbell but the game then lost a bit of tempo and scoring chances were not frequent. The course of the game was stopped many times during periods to repair the ice, slowing the game down too many times unfortunatly.

After the overtime period, the score was still tied at 1-1 and a shootout session was needed to declare a winner. Sidney Crosby ended up with the game-winner during the shootout as he sent the puck thru Ryan Miller's legs.

Final score: Pittsburgh Penguins 2 - Buffalo Sabres 1.

(Picture: Sidney Crosby, Canadian Press.)