Troy Brouwer fires late game-winner in Capitals Winter Classic win

The 2015 Winter Classic was not a major spectacle that included any memorable outdoor scenery associated with previous games or cool snow-globe photo ops.

But the lasting recollection will be the fact that it was simply maybe the most quality game between two teams in the annual event, a 3-2 win by the hometown Washington Capitals over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Former Blackhawk Troy Brouwer fired the game winner with 12.9 seconds left on the power play in the third period. Forward Alex Ovechkin carried the puck in on a broken play, and Brouwer picked up the loose puck and slung it past Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford on a spin-o-rama type play.

 “Ovi came in wide, broke his stick, I picked it up, threw it on net and kind of handcuffed Crawford,” said Brouwer, who played for the Blackhawks in Chicago’s 2009 Winter Classic game at Wrigley Field.

The only issue involved a glare, which subsided by the end of the first period. The mid-40 degree face off temperature and clear, blue skies led to decent ice conditions (at least to the naked eye) in front of a crowd of 42,832 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

It also helped that both these teams were outdoor game veterans, which calmed their nerves. It was Washington’s and Chicago’s second classic, and the Blackhawks’ third outdoor game since the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

Many familiar outdoor game faces wound up on the scoresheet. Washington’s Eric Fehr (who scored two goals, including the game winner in the 2011 Winter Classic) opened the scoring at the 7:01 mark of the first period.

Jonathan Toews became the all-time leader in outdoor points with his assist on Brandon Saad’s tic-tac-toe goal at the 3:15 mark of the second period to knot the game at 2-2.

Ovechkin connected on his first outdoor goal (and 18^th of the season) in the first period to push the game to 2-0 before Chicago's comeback.

The win was Washington’s second outdoor victory and just the third win for a hosting team in an outdoor game.

Washington’s Braden Holtby made 33 saves in the win, while Crawford stopped 32 stops in the loss.