By Zachary McMahon-
The NHL announced on Wednesday two outdoor games that will be taking place in Florida in 2026 for the very first time in the state.
The first will be the 2026 Winter Classic, where the Florida Panthers will play the New York Rangers at LoanDepot Park, the home of the Miami Marlins on New Year’s Day 2026. Then, the 2026 Stadium Series will be in Tampa Bay as the Lightning will play the Boston Bruins a month later on Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium, the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
This will be the very first time that the Florida Panthers will play in an outdoor game, while the Rangers will play their sixth outdoor game, as they are undefeated 5-0 in those kinds of games. This will be just the second time the Rangers will play an outdoor game outside of the NY/NJ area, as their first appearance in the 2012 Winter Classic was at Citizens Bank Park where the Rangers won against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Rangers last played in the 2024 Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ as they won against the New York Islanders on Feb. 18, 2024. That was the second of a set of games at the stadium as the Flyers and the New Jersey Devils played the day before, where the Devils won 6-3. The last Winter Classic appearance for the Rangers was in 2018, when they won in overtime against the Buffalo Sabres at Citi Field in Queens.
The Stadium Series game will be the sixth Bruins appearance in an NHL outdoor game, and their first in the Stadium Series. The B’s are 4-1 in outdoor games, with the lone loss coming against the Montreal Canadiens at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro in the 2016 Winter Classic.
This will be only the second outdoor game where the B’s will be officially declared the away team, as the only time before 2026, would’ve been in the 2019 Winter Classic where the B’s won against the Chicago Blackhawks at Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana.
On Feb. 21, 2021, the B’s played the Philadelphia Flyers at Lake Tahoe on the border of Nevada and California, where they won 7-3, and they were declared the “home” team.
Most recently, the B’s hosted the 2023 Winter Classic at Fenway Park as they won 2-1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1, in their historical record-breaking season in 2022-23. That came as the Fenway Sports Group bought out the Penguins on New Year’s Eve in 2021, and then they played at the home of the Boston Red Sox.
As of writing, the Bruins have the fourth most outdoor games as a franchise, including the one coming in 2026, as they are behind the Penguins, Flyers, and Blackhawks.
Meanwhile, this will be the second time that the Tampa Bay Lighting has played in an outdoor game, as they played against the Nashville Predators at Nissan Stadium, the home of the Tennessee Titans, in the 2022 NHL Stadium Series. The Lightning had won the game 3-2 on Feb. 26, 2022.
The game in Miami, will be the southernmost NHL outdoor game ever played, which will be previously belonging to the 2020 Winter Classic, as the Dallas Stars hosted the Nashville Predators at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, and the then-defending champions won 4-2 over the Preds.
The games in Florida will most likely present a challenge as it is a warmer climate, and the ice will have to stay cold. The NHL will have to avoid delays like in the Lake Tahoe game between the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche, where the game had to be delayed for over eight hours due to unplayable ice conditions. Unlike in the Lake Tahoe game, which had no fans due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, a long delay will most likely have fans leaving early, and more empty seats in the stadium, which will not be a good look for the NHL.
Sports Insider Daily 