Morning Box Score: Blackhawks Lose Winter Classic; Bulls Edge Nuggets

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 2, 2015 2:30PM

Photo credit: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Washington 3, Blackhawks 2
The NHL has something special with their annual Winter Classic, so special one hopes they don't dilute the outdoor hockey spectacular (although the series of outdoor games last year may be a sign). The Blackhawks and Washington Capitals had a global spotlight on them at Nationals Stadium Thursday and played a tight contest that wasn't settled until the final moments when former Blackhawk Troy Brouwer scored the game-winner on a power play with 12.9 seconds remaining. Special teams play cost the Blackhawks, who were 1-for-six with a man advantage and were unable to score on a 91-second 5-on-3 advantage in the second period. Patrick Sharp scored the power play goal for the Blackhawks and Brandon Saad had the other Chicago goal. Washington captain Alex Ovechkin was the first star of the game. Ovechkin had a goal, assisted on Brouwer's game-winner, and had four hits in the game.

Bulls 106, Denver 101
The Bulls stars came out to play at the United Center Thursday night and the result was a come-from-behind win to kick off the 2015 portion of their regular season. Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol flirted with triple doubles. Butler had a game-high 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists while Gasol scored 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had nine of the Bulls' single game franchise record 18 blocked shots. Derrick Rose scored 17 points on 7-for-25 shooting but came up big in thee fourth quarter, where he scored 13 points. Chicago came back from a 13-point Nugget lead in the final 12 minutes as Rose became more aggressive looking for his shot. What he missed was easily cleaned up by his teammates as the Bulls led by as many as eight points in the final moments.