Looking to change momentum, Rupp did much more

After finishing off his best performance of the season with two goals in the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, Rangers forward Mike Rupp met a large gathering of media in front of his dressing room. Rupp wore the Rangers' Broadway Hat as the team-voted player of the game in New York's 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Rupp blogged about his experience at Citizens Bank Park once all the cameras were turned off. Here are his thoughts:

You're always thinking you can be the player to change the momentum of a game. When it actually is you finishing off the goal that does change the momentum, it is an amazing experience.

Scoring that first goal today was big because we needed one in a bad way. The Flyers had just gotten two in a row and we knew if they got a third it would have been really difficult to come back. We all went out there after Claude Giroux scored -- myself, Brandon Prust, John Mitchell, Marc Staal and Stu Bickel -- thinking 'Let's do something here. Let's pull this momentum from them.'

We did and it was enough to cut the lead.

People were asking me about the salute I gave after scoring. You may not believe this, but it was just a moment of excitement. I was really just excited to contribute offensively and hopefully at that time get us back in the game. I'm just glad we were able to get back in the game.

Getting the second goal, the game-tying goal, was also huge. Everybody has to contribute and I only had one goal coming into today. I've always thought one of the strongest points of our team is the production comes from up and down the lineup, and I didn't want to be one who never did it. So, it feels good.

I also know as a player that I can do a lot of different things, but this year so far I haven't felt I have been tapping into all those areas. It was important to me to contribute more.

Overall, the experience was just awesome. It really is much better to be on the winning side of the Winter Classic than on the losing side. I felt it the other way last year and it wasn't fun, but we as a team need to remember that we haven't won anything yet. Yes, we won this game and it's a big one, but can't go around puffing out our chests and thinking we won something equivalent to a Game 7.

This wasn't a Game 7, but it did feel good in that moment to win this game.

The experience was awesome. I've always said Philadelphia is one of my favorite cities to play in, and this event was so well done here. We all really enjoyed our time, but we've got three more games against the Flyers this season and we have a big game Thursday against Florida.

The Winter Classic chapter has to close now. It was a great one.