#People ice skating in New York City. Early 1930 s.

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Dose: Vladimir Tara-terrifc

The Winter Classic celebrated its ninth season and for the first time it was in the city of St. Louis which is celebrating its 50th season in the NHL.

Actually, the Blues are celebrating their 50th season because in the 1930’s the Ottawa Senators franchise moved to St. Louis where they became the Eagles for one season before the NHL bought and dissolved the franchise.

It was great to see the ceremonial faceoff with Bobby Hull in a Blackhawks uniform and his son Brett in a St. Louis jersey, dropping the pucks.

Both were the best players in their respective franchise histories. It was a great beginning to the Winter Classic.

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  ST. LOUIS 4 CHICAGO 1

It was the Vladimir Tarasenko show on Monday afternoon as he scored twice to lead the Blues to a 4-1 win in  their first ever Winter Classic.

Michal Kempny scored just 1:02 into the game as he had a bouncer from the point elude Jake Allen to give the Blackhawks an early 1-0 lead. It must have bounced three times before the last one jumped over Allen’s glove for the goal.

While that was all the scoring in the first period, the ice conditions were not great as it was slow and bumpy according to Blues blueliner Alex Pietrangelo.

Patrik Berglund tied the game up at 1 when he slammed home a nice pass from Jay Bouwmeester. It was Berglund’s sixth of the season.

That’s the way the second period ended and it was still tied at 1 when less than eight minutes to go in the third when it turned into the Vladimir Tarasenko show. The highly skilled forward scored twice in 1:53 after being denied on numerous scoring chances.

His first goal was a lucky one as he tried to pass the puck to linemate Jori Lehtera, but the puck hit Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson’s skate and past a bewildered Corey Crawford.

The second goal was a thing of beauty as he took a Lehtera pass, kicked it from his skate to his stick and wristed a shot past Crawford.

Alexander Steen, who earlier in the game picked up his 300th career assist and his 500th point in the NHL, scored his fourth of the season into the empty net. It has been a bit tough owning Steen in 2016-17 as he has only 20 points in 32 games this season.

Robby Fabbri chipped in with a pair of assists as the Blues have been relying on their young talent to carry them this season including Tarasenko, Fabbri and Jaden Schwartz. The Blues have a bright future with those forwards as Steen and Paul Stastny are not special players at this time.

Allen stopped 22 shots for the victory as he is 17-9-3 with a 2.61 GAA and a .905 save percentage. His record is good but his peripherals are not in line with a top-15 fantasy goalie in the NHL and that’s what he was heading into the season.

Crawford was on the losing end 13-8-3 with a 2.31 GAA and a .927 save percentage, peripherals that Allen would love to have.

Brent Seabrook was a minus-three while Lehtera, Fabbri, Tarasenko, Joel Edmundson, Kevin Shattenkirk and Pietrangelo were all plus-two.

It was the third time that the home team won in nine Winter Classic attempts.

David Perron had a strong game despite being pointless as he had four shots on goal and seven hits.

NEW JERSEY 3 BOSTON 0

Maybe Cory Schneider is starting to turn his game around as he stopped all 22 Boston shots in a 3-0 win.

It was Schneider’s second shutout in his last four games, although since December 1 he has given up at least four goals in seven of his 11 starts. He is 11-12-5 with a 2.80 GAA and a .906 save percentage.

The Devils will need much better goaltending if they hope to contend for a playoff spot as they are not a high scoring squad.

P.A. Parenteau gave the Devils an early 1-0 lead as he scored his third goal in the past four games. The Devils claimed him off waivers from the New York Islanders (who had no business giving up a goal scorer) and he now has 11 for New Jersey this season.

It remained that way until the 1:44 mark of the third when Sergey Kalinin scored his second of the season. Kalinin then set up Taylor Hall for the empty net goal with 1:58 left to go, to clinch the game.

Tuukka Rask stopped 23 shots as his record fell to 19-8-3 with a sparkling 1.93 GAA and a just as impressive .928 save percentage.

There was one fight in the game as Colin Miller and Miles Wood went at it in the first.

Steve Santini picked up his first NHL point of his career on the Parenteau goal while Wood also picked up his first assist of his young career. He has four goals as well in 19 games.

VANCOUVER 3 COLORADO 2

Sven Baertschi scored twice including the game winner with 3:37 to go in the third to lead the Canucks to a 3-2 win over lowly Colorado.

Baertschi was a healthy scratch on December 11 and a lot of people were scratching their heads on that one but he has been like a house on fire since then with six goals and 11 points in 10 games. He started the season with five goals and 11 points in his first 26 games so he is finally showing why he was drafted 13th overall in 2011 by the Flames.

Bo Horvat opened the scoring in the second period for his 11th of the campaign. Highly regarded Anton Rodin picked up his first NHL point with a secondary assist on the goal.

Mikko Rantanen scored on the power play to even the game up at 1 with his sixth of the season. The Avs do not have a lot but Rantanen will be a good one in a couple of years in fantasy, if his plus/minus doesn’t kill your team.

Baertschi finished the scoring in the second with his first of the night with Henrik Sedin and Brandon Sutter drawing the assists.

Tyson Barrie has had a real tough go of it this season as he had only two goals and 19 points with a minus-21 rating heading into the Monday night game but he potted his third of the season to tie the game at 2. He ended the night a plus-one. The good news is that he is on a five game points streak with a goal and seven points in that span.

But it was Baertschi’s heroics that finally won the game for Vancouver as he scored on the power play with the Sedin twins getting the assists. He backhanded a loose puck from in front of the net, past Calvin Pickard, giving the Canucks the win.

Daniel Sedin got his 600th career assist on the goal.

Ryan Miller evened his record at 10-10-1 with the win as he now has a 2.77 GAA and a .910 save percentage. He started the season with a 1-7 record so he has really come on of late.

Pickard picked up the loss after stopping 21 shots. He lost his fourth straight and is 6-10-1 with a 3.14 GAA and a .898 save percentage.

The Avs are the worst team in the NHL and their chance at the number one pick in the draft increases with every game.