It may have seemed a bit presumptuous for the NHL to refer in advance to yesterday’s outdoor game between the Sabres and Penguins as the “Winter Classic,” but as it turned out, the spectacle met and exceeded all expectations. Played in front of 71,217 raucous fans during a snowstorm at Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium, the crowd and the inclement weather added plenty to the drama. But it was the game itself that was the star, as emerging superstar Sidney Crosby sealed the 2–1 victory for the Penguins in a shootout.

It didn’t take long for the Pens to get onto the scoreboard, as Crosby burst into the Sabres’ zone on the first shift of the game and drove the puck into Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller’s crease. Crosby’s opportunistic linemate, Colby Armstrong, pounced on the loose puck and buried the rebound past Miller, and Pittsburgh took a 1–0 lead just 21 seconds into the first period. The teams appeared to be feeling each other out while learning the intricacies of the makeshift ice surface and the unique weather conditions.

A few minutes after the Armstrong goal, Crosby executed a brilliant stick-handling move that summarized what this event was all about. He was rushing the puck over the blue line when he suddenly began juggling the puck on his stick and then lifted it into the air and over the head of Buffalo rearguard Jaroslav Spacek. Crosby raced past Spacek to regain control of the puck, and though he wasn’t able to score, he came away from the play smiling enthusiastically. It was a frozen moment of creative genius that was emblematic of hockey at its most entertaining: exuberant improvisation by the game’s brightest star.

Buffalo tied the game in the second period, and the teams traded chances in the third, but neither was able to break through. The Sabres had a power play to begin the overtime period, but they were unable to capitalize, as Conklin stood tall in the Penguins’ crease. With day turning quickly to night, the game came down to a shootout. After Kotalik and the Pens’ Kristopher Letang traded goals, it all came down to Crosby against Miller. Crosby skated in, straight down the middle of the ice, eluded a Miller poke check, and fired the puck to give the Pens a dramatic victory on the game’s final shot. With each passing minute, Crosby seems ever more suited to take the mantle as the face of hockey, and with the enthusiasm, skill, and creativity he displayed from start to finish yesterday, it’s clear that the sport couldn’t be in better hands.

Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.