Sunday’s Stadium Series game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins was the 45th outdoor game in NHL history. Critics will say the outdoor games have been overdone, and that perhaps the league should start cutting back on them. But nothing that transpired on Sunday night backs up that belief.
The Lightning’s 6-5 comeback win was not only one of the best games of the 2025-26 season to date, but it might have been the best outdoor game the NHL has ever had.
Lightning Stadium Series win over Bruins had everything
Just consider all of the chaos that unfolded on Sunday night.
- Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel opened the scoring with a goal just 11 seconds into the game and on the first shot on goal of the game.
- The Bruins raced out to a 5-1 lead and seemed to be in complete control and on their way to an emphatic statement win over one of the NHL’s best teams on a national stage.
- There was a goalie fight between Tampa Bay’s Andre Vasilevskiy and Boston’s Jeremy Swayman.
- The Lightning erased that 5-1 deficit, thanks in large part to a parade of Boston penalties in the second period, to pick up a massive come-from-behind win.
- There was an incredible overtime period that saw Boston successfully kill off two penalties, before the Lightning eventually won it in a shootout.
Add in a sellout crowd of 64,116 for the first home outdoor game in Lightning history, and it was a pretty good sign that even after 45 attempts, the league’s outdoor games still have some juice to them.
The weather was a surprising story
An outdoor hockey game in Tampa, Florida, does not seem like the sort of thing that would work, but the NHL’s ice-making crews always find a way, even in the warm-weather environments.
While the sunlight and warmer temperatures were a concern during preparation this week, the game-time temperature actually dropped down into the 40s.
That was colder than the last outdoor game that was played in Boston.