Everything You Need to Know for the Winter Classic

The city of Boston has been preparing the iconic Fenway Park Baseball field for the 2023 Winter Classic game between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Winter Classic, one of three outdoor games played each season, kicks off the start of the new year on January 2nd at 2:00 pm eastern time.

The Penguins, who played in the first-ever Winter Classic in 2008, are currently holding an Eastern Conference wild-card spot with a 19-11-6 record for 44 points in 36 games played. With a .611 point percentage, they are comfortably sitting above the league average of .556 but are going to need high performances from their best scorers in order to beat the leading Bruins.  

The B’s have been first in the league for weeks now, still with no regulation losses at home and a 28-4-4 record overall for 60 points in 36 games and a .833 point percentage. Despite having some struggles in more recent games, the Bruins’ ability to scrape up a win in the third makes them the team to beat. 

The two teams have only met once this season, ending in a 6-5 win for the Bruins in overtime. More evenly matched in the first period, which ended 2-1 Bruins, the B’s gave up four more goals in the second, only scoring one for a 5-3 Penguins lead. The second period has been the kryptonite for the Bruins this season, but they've been able to recover well in the third period as they did in this meeting.

If the Penguins are wanting a chance at finally giving the Bruins a regulation loss at home for the Winter Classic game, they’ll have to attack hard in the second period and hold strong defense in the third.

Based on previous meetings and the past few games played by each team, this should be an interesting and engaging matchup to watch.