The first outdoor game on record to feature an NHL team was attempted on February 2, 1954. The
Detroit Red Wings played an exhibition game on an outdoor ice surface, in degree weather, against the Marquette Pirates, an
athletic club composed of inmates at
Michigan's
Marquette Branch Prison. The game, and the Pirates club, was allegedly organized as a way for Red Wings manager
Jack Adams to make good with two convicted
The Mafia members incarcerated at the prison. By the end of the first period alone, the Red Wings had amassed an 18–0 score against the prisoners; score keeping was abandoned after that point and the rest of the game effectively became an informal scrimmage. Two years after the 1954 prison match, the
Boston Bruins went on a postseason
barnstorm of
Atlantic Canada in April 1956, which included a stop in
Bay Roberts,
Newfoundland. On April 9, 1956, the Bruins played an exhibition game against teams from the Conception Bay North Hockey League on an outdoor artificial ice surface, under similar rules to those of the 1954 prison match. Four teams each played one period against the Bruins who dominated the game. Only one goal was scored on
Terry Sawchuk by the local teams. During their time at the
Civic Arena, the
Pittsburgh Penguins could have theoretically hosted an outdoor NHL game due to the arena having a
retractable roof as the arena was originally built for the
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, who only stayed at the arena until 1973. However, the roof was always closed during ice hockey games with both the Penguins and their
American Hockey League (AHL) predecessors, the
Pittsburgh Hornets, whom the Penguins replaced upon the
1967 NHL expansion. The roof was permanently closed after 1994 when the Penguins replaced the center scoreboard. The first outdoor game between two NHL teams (and the first played to completion) was an
official pre-season match-up on September 27, 1991. The game took place in the parking lot of
Caesars Palace in
Paradise, Nevada, and featured the
Los Angeles Kings and
New York Rangers. The process of keeping the ice cool in the desert heat required three times as much coolant as a standard NHL rink. There were few problems despite temperatures that reached during the day and a game time temperature of . From 1997 to 2016, the Los Angeles Kings returned to the
Las Vegas Valley to play an annual indoors pre-season game as part of the
Frozen Fury series. In 2016, Las Vegas area obtained
its own NHL franchise and the series was moved to
Salt Lake City, before it was canceled altogether due to the arrival of the
Utah Mammoth in 2024. The first regular season outdoor game in the history of the NHL took place on November 22, 2003, at
Edmonton's
Commonwealth Stadium, when the
Edmonton Oilers played the
Montreal Canadiens in the
2003 Heritage Classic. The Oilers had suggested the idea of hosting an outdoor game as early as the mid-1980s, but the genesis of the 2003 event was the "
Cold War" outdoor game played two years prior between
Michigan State University and the
University of Michigan. was played in
2008 at
Ralph Wilson Stadium in
Orchard Park, New York In 2005,
NBC Sports executive vice president Jon Miller then pitched the concept of an annual outdoor game as a television event to the NHL, "but they didn't find the concept workable." In December 2006, Miller found an ally in then-league executive vice president/business and media John Collins, who embraced the idea. This led to the inaugural
Winter Classic game on January 1, 2008, with the
Pittsburgh Penguins visiting the
Buffalo Sabres at
Ralph Wilson Stadium. By the end of May 2013, the NHL had scheduled a record six outdoor NHL games for the
2013–14 season – one Winter Classic, one Heritage Classic, and four Stadium Series games. In scheduling outdoor games in the
New York metropolitan area that feature the
New York Rangers (first occurring during two of the four
2014 Stadium Series games, and subsequently the
2018 Winter Classic), the team has always been designated as the "away" team. This is to maintain the property tax-exempt status of the Rangers' home arena,
Madison Square Garden (MSG). The tax exemption stipulates that it only applies if the Rangers do not "cease playing" home games at the arena, generally interpreted as playing any "home" game outside of it. By designating the Rangers as the "away" team and the Buffalo Sabres as the "home" team in the 2018 Winter Classic at
Citi Field in the
New York City borough of
Queens, it would save MSG from paying more than $40 million in property taxes. Up until 2013, NHL's outdoor games were held exclusively in Canada and in the
Midwest and
Northeast United States. That changed in the 2014 Stadium Series when the Los Angeles Kings became the first
West Coast team to host a regular season outdoor game when they faced their
in-city rival, the
Anaheim Ducks, at
Dodger Stadium in
Los Angeles on January 25, 2014. The
San Jose Sharks followed suit, hosting their
archrival Kings in the
2015 Stadium Series at
Levi's Stadium in
Santa Clara, California. The first outdoor game to take place in a
Southern state took place in the
2020 Winter Classic when the
Dallas Stars hosted the
Nashville Predators at the
Cotton Bowl in
Dallas. was held at
Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia In 2016, the Penguins and the
Philadelphia Flyers worked out an agreement to play a home-and-home series of outdoors games. On March 6, 2016, the NHL officially announced that the
Winnipeg Jets will host the Oilers in the
2016 Heritage Classic during the
2016–17 season, held on October 23, 2016. To celebrate the NHL's 100-year in 2017, the league held two special outdoor games. The first, branded as the
Centennial Classic, between the Detroit Red Wings and
Toronto Maple Leafs, was held on January 1 (during the 2016–17 season) to kick off the year. The second, branded as the
NHL 100 Classic, was held on December 16 (during the
2017–18 season) between the Montreal Canadiens and
Ottawa Senators. When the
2018 Stadium Series at
Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at the
U.S. Naval Academy was announced, NHL commissioner
Gary Bettman said that it was the start of a unique partnership with the
U.S. military in which the league planned to host outdoor games at military service academies around the United States. The
2020 Stadium Series was held at
Falcon Stadium at the
U.S. Air Force Academy on February 15, 2020. In 2021, the NHL announced the creation of a two-game series, the
NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe, to function as the replacement for the canceled outdoor games of the
2020–21 season. In view of the
COVID-19 pandemic, fans would not be allowed at the games and instead the games would serve as a made-for-television event intended to simulate
pond hockey.
Rule differences The NHL outdoor games have additional weather-related rules, including: • At the discretion of the
NHL commissioner, a game may be subject to temporary stoppages due to unplayable weather conditions. The period and game format may then be modified to accommodate those conditions. • If there are high winds or other weather conditions that may give the team at one end an unfair advantage, a "hard whistle" will be signaled at the 10:00 minute mark of the third period, and then at the 2:30 minute mark of overtime (if necessary), stopping play immediately and the teams will switch sides. • During shootouts, both teams may choose to defend the same goal. • If a game is stopped permanently once two periods have been played, it can then be declared a completed
official game. If the score is still tied however, the teams will still hold a shootout, whether at the same outdoor rink or at a different venue at a later date. The
2008 Winter Classic was the first game to use "hard whistle" stoppages during the third period and overtime, and to have the teams defend the same goal during the shootout. The
2011 Winter Classic was delayed from its original 1:00 p.m. start time to 8:00 p.m. due to warm temperatures and rain in the forecast. The start time of the
2012 Winter Classic was also delayed two hours due to the sun hitting the ice. Sunlight also adversely affected the ice conditions of the first game of the
NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe, causing the start of the second period to be delayed for several hours. The start time of the second Lake Tahoe game was also delayed because of the conditions.
Hosting statistics at
Mosaic Stadium in
Regina, Saskatchewan, was the first
Heritage Classic held outside the locales the participants are based in As of February 2026: • Until 2027, 31 of the NHL's 32 teams have participated in an outdoor regular season game with Utah being the only team that has never been selected. • 18 teams have played more than one game. • Chicago has appeared in seven outdoor games. This is the most of any team. Their record is one win and six losses. • 22 metropolitan areas (out of 29 represented among the league's 32 teams) have hosted outdoor regulation games. In addition to the six metropolitan areas represented by teams that have not played in any outdoor games, Montreal has played in outdoor games but has yet to host any themselves. • New York City, Massachusetts and Chicago/Northern Indiana have each hosted three games. Maryland–DC, Colorado, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis-St.Paul and Winnipeg/Eastern Prairies have each hosted twice. • Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Heinz Field, and Commonwealth Stadium will have each hosted two games. • In the
2019 Heritage Classic,
Saskatchewan (a province that has been a
longshot candidate for NHL expansion for decades) became the first fully neutral-site territory to host an outdoor regular season game, with Winnipeg Jets as the designated home team (their second). • During the 2021
NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe when two games were played, Vegas played in the first contest against Colorado. The second game was between Philadelphia and Boston.
Canceled and postponed games The
Dallas Stars had originally been scheduled to play a stadium game at
Houston's
Reliant Stadium during their
2011–12 pre-season, but this game was ultimately canceled. The
2013 Winter Classic was originally scheduled to be contested at
Michigan Stadium between the
Detroit Red Wings and
Toronto Maple Leafs. However, due to the
2012–13 NHL lockout resulting in an abbreviated
2012–13 season, this Winter Classic matchup at Michigan Stadium was postponed and would be
held during the
following season instead. The
Winnipeg Jets announced in 2013 that they had reached an agreement with the NHL to host a fourth Heritage Classic at
Investors Group Field, the home of the
Canadian Football League's
Winnipeg Blue Bombers, which they hoped to hold during the team's fifth anniversary in
2015–16. However, a disagreement occurred between the NHL and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the game's exact date – the league wanted it held in December 2015, while the football team became concerned that this date was too close to the
103rd Grey Cup being held at the stadium on November 29. In January 2015, the Jets announced that they could not reach an agreement to finalize a date for the Heritage Classic during the 2015–16 season and that they were now looking for a new date during the
2016–17 season. On March 6, 2016, the NHL officially announced that the Jets would host the Oilers in the
2016 Heritage Classic during the 2016–17 season, held in October. On June 28, 2021, the league confirmed that the Blues and the Wild would play in the
2022 Winter Classic at Target Field, but the Hurricanes asked the league to postpone their outdoor game for another year to at least the
2022–23 season "to assure a safe environment." The Hurricanes would become the first warm-climate
Eastern Conference team to host an outdoor game. ==List of NHL outdoor games==