2016 NHL Winter Classic

The Bruins made their second appearance in the Winter Classic, as they played against the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2010 NHL Winter Classic held in Boston's Fenway Park; Massachusetts became the first market to serve as repeat host of the Winter Classic. Early reports dating back to December 2014 by TSN's Bob McKenzie indicated that Boston was the league's first choice in hosting the game.^[4]

To accommodate the event, Gillette Stadium's primary tenant, the

In the most lopsided score in the Winter Classic, four Montreal players combined to score five goals en route to a 5–1 victory against Boston. In his first game since suffering a hand injury on November 22, Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher recorded a goal and an assist. Goalie Mike Condon made 27 saves for Montreal. Adam McQuaid scored the Bruins' only goal; this goal was originally credited to Matt Beleskey, but would be changed days later after official review by the NHL.^[8]

Number in parentheses represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the season

Team rosters

Montreal Canadiens # Player Position 11 Brendan Gallagher RW 14 Tomas Plekanec (A) C 15 Tomas Fleischmann LW 17 Torrey Mitchell C 22 Dale Weise RW 26 Jeff Petry D 27 Alex Galchenyuk C 28 Nathan Beaulieu D 32 Brian Flynn C 39 Mike Condon G 40 Ben Scrivens[1] G 41 Paul Byron LW 43 Daniel Carr LW 45 Mark Barberio D 51 David Desharnais C 67 Max Pacioretty (C) LW 74 Alexei Emelin D 76 P.K. Subban (A) D 79 Andrei Markov D 81 Lars Eller C Head coach: Michel Therrien

Boston Bruins # Player Position 11 Jimmy Hayes RW 14 Brett Connolly RW 21 Loui Eriksson (A) LW 25 Maxime Talbot C 29 Landon Ferraro C 33 Zdeno Chara (C) D 36 Zac Rinaldo C 37 Patrice Bergeron (A) C 39 Matt Beleskey LW 40 Tuukka Rask G 44 Dennis Seidenberg D 45 Joe Morrow D 47 Torey Krug D 50 Jonas Gustavsson[2] G 51 Ryan Spooner C 53 Seth Griffith C 54 Adam McQuaid D 72 Frank Vatrano C 76 Alexander Khokhlachev C 86 Kevan Miller D Head coach: Claude Julien

^ Ben Scrivens and Jonas Gustavsson dressed as the back-up goaltenders. Neither entered the game.

Scratches

• Montreal Canadiens: Greg Pateryn, Devante Smith-Pelly, Jarred Tinordi
• Boston Bruins: Zach Trotman, Brad Marchand, Tyler Randell

Alumni Game

In the Alumni Game on New Year's Eve, the Bruins defeated the Canadiens 5–4 in a shootout. The Canadiens alumni included

Bruins' former anthem singer Rene Rancourt performed O Canada and The Star-Spangled Banner at the alumni game.

Television

The game was televised in the United States on NBC, with commentators Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire.^[9]

In Canada, it was the second consecutive Winter Classic to be televised under the

The 2016 NHL Winter Classic had the lowest ratings of any Winter Classic in the United States to date, with an average of less than 3 million American viewers watching the game.[12]

Pregame/Anthems/Entertainment

Prior to the game, Boston-based pop rock band American Authors performed.

The national anthems were performed by Montreal-based rock band Simple Plan (O Canada sung in English and French) and The Voice season 9 winner Jordan Smith, accompanied by the Boston Pops (The Star-Spangled Banner).

Singer-songwriter Nate Ruess performed during the first intermission while Simple Plan performed during the second intermission.

References