The Philadelphia Flyers announced Saturday that goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and not Ilya Bryzgalov will start Monday against the New York Rangers, who will play their East Conference Atlantic Division rivals in the 2012 Winter Classic (1 p.m. on NBC) at Citizen Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA.
Surprisingly, the announcement was not made by Fylers head coach Peter Laviolette, but by Bryzgalov himself:
"Great news, I’m not playing tomorrow night," Bryzgalov said Sasturday. "Good news, we have a chance to win the game."
Laviolette was not happy that Bryzgalov had made the statment to the media, as the head coach had yet to talk to either goalies about who was going to get the start.
The Blueshirt have already defeated both goaltender this season. On Dec. 23, New York netted four goals against Bryzgalov in a 4-2 victory at Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, in late November, the Rangers earned a 2-0 victory over Bobrovsky.
-- See SB Nation New York's StoryStream for complete Winter Classic coverage. You can visit Blueshirt Banter for the Rangers perspective. For the Flyers perspective, see BroadStreetHockey or SBNation Philly.