The NHL threw a huge New Year's Day party in Pittsburgh. The Caps tried to spoil the fun with their 3-1 victory in the team's first Winter Classic appearance. They played well, the Pens not so much, but it didn't ruin an otherwise fun weekend of hockey in the great outdoors.

You may have seen them already on Picasa.  If not, check out our photos from the game after the jump.

From 2011-01-01 Winter Classic

We kicked things off right with an early dinner at Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse next to PNC Park.  Love the menu items - Steak Fleury, The Hines Ward, Steak Lemieux.  You couldn't go wrong with any of them.

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After dinner, we wandered through the stadium parking lots taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the pregame festivities. This officer was happy to protect and serve that hot dog and (hopefully) coke.

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We spotted Katie O'Malley working the crowd.

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Then bumped into her and got a photo.

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The Caps arrived and received a proper greeting from the Pittsburgh faithful.

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More scenes from the gold lot.

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Any thoughts of going to the bathroom outside the stadium were put aside after seeing the line for the port-o-potty.

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We started making our way to the stadium and were greeted by some glorious exterior night shots.

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First view from our seats. Awesome.

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Iceburgh settled in for the game.

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Fleury leads the team out onto the ice for warm-ups.

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He's back!!!

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Max was sporting the terrible towel.

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A little pregame entertainment.

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Finally, the players marched to the ice side by side.

Can't say enough how great it was to see #11 in his first game back since last year's playoffs.

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Mario made his way onto the ice for the ceremonial opening face off.

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Mario was joined by a couple of former Steelers.

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Anthems.

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"Not Jeff Jimerson" did a decent job with the anthem.

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Fans in the sections below us held up colored cards that apparently formed the Canada and US flags.

The short video below shows some of the pyrotechnics just after the anthem ended.

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Finally, opening face off.

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The Caps got some early pressure but Fleury was up to the task.

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It didn't take long for Staal to make his presence felt.

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Caps defenseman John Erskine got under Mike Rupp's skin.

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Rupp took Erskine down but it wasn't over yet.

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Short video of the end of the fight:

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The benches were pleased with the fight.

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Ovechkin went down taking a shot. Dupes made sure he stayed down.

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Ovechkin wasn't pleased about something and he let the officials know about it at the end of the first.

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The Clarks entertained during the first intermission.

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Painted head guy made an appearance.

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The second period got underway. Not to many photos due to the rain. Geno opened the scoring but the Caps answered with a pair of goals.

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Looked like the Pens may have tied it, but...

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No goal due to incidental contact with the goaltender.

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Styx rocked during the second intermission.

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Pens came out to do battle in the third.

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More rain in the third meant limited photo ops. Fehr had scored again to make it 3-1. Then Ovie ran over Fleury and scored, leading to this premature celebration. The goal was disallowed, again for incidental contact with the goalie.

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The Pens got some good late chances.

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As time ticked away, it became clear the Pens weren't going to make it happen.

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Another early celebration from Ovie led to some hurt feelings among the Pens. Things got a little heated.

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Bylsma put Engelland out in the closing seconds to try to calm things down a bit.

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Kunitz wanted to dance with Ovie, but the feelings were no reciprocated.

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The clock hit all zeroes and the Caps had the 3-1 win.

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The visitors played a good game and handled the conditions better than the Pens.

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The Pens saw some of the Caps were already headed for the locker room so they figured the "traditional" postgame handshake was a no-go.

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Geno captured the third star.

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Enjoy it now. We'll see you in February!