By: Jake Ferraro | Follow me on Twitter/X @18Jxxx18
Tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET, the Boston Bruins will play in the National Hockey League’s 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Raymond James Stadium, home to the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa, Florida. Tonight’s game is a pivotal game for the Eastern Conference standings. In the first and only meeting this season against the Lightning in Boston back on Oct. 13, the Bruins fell 4-3 in regulation. In the loss, Pavel Zacha recorded two assists.
The 2026 Stadium Series will mark the Bruins’ sixth outdoor game in franchise history. All-time, the Bruins have a 4-1-0 record in outdoor games. Before 2026, the Bruins played in four Winter Classics and one outdoor game at Lake Tahoe. Now, a Stadium Series game can be added for the franchise. As the Bruins get ready to play the Lightning outdoors, it’s never too early to predict who the team could play and where they could play outdoors in the future.
The Bruins have played some of their top rivals outdoors, but have not played other rivals outdoors. Now, it’s time to give three teams and locations for the Bruins to play in their next outdoor game when the team gets another chance to do so.
3. vs Toronto Maple Leafs at Rogers Centre
Boston and Toronto are two of the most iconic hockey cities in the world, and the rivalry between the Bruins and Maple Leafs dates back to the NHL’s Original Six, but the two teams have not played outdoors against each other.
Rogers Centre, home of Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, would create the perfect setting for the two teams to clash against one another. Toronto may eventually be due to host a big outdoor game involving the Maple Leafs. With the history between the two teams, the Bruins would be a good opponent for the Maple Leafs to play outdoors.
2. vs New York Rangers at Fenway Park
Fenway Park is arguably not just the most iconic stadium in the MLB, but in all of sports. The ballpark has already hosted two Winter Classics, and the Bruins won both. In 2010, the Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 behind Marco Sturm’s overtime winner. In 2023, the Bruins defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 behind Jake DeBrusk’s two-goal game.
A third outdoor game at Fenway Park against the Rangers would make sense for one thing: it would bring the Boston-New York rivalry together in a historic sports setting, where the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees have had so many iconic battles.
While the Boston-New York rivalry is big in the National Football League due to the New England Patriots and New York Jets being division rivals and playing at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, it isn’t as big as the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. Therefore, the Bruins taking on the Rangers can make more sense. Also, the Bruins have never played the Rangers in an outdoor game before, so it would be a first for both teams to play an old rival outdoors as Original Six teams.
1. vs Montreal Canadiens at Olympic Stadium
In 2016, the Bruins hosted the Canadiens outdoors in the Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium. However, that Winter Classic is one Bruin fans and their team will hate to talk about, as the Canadiens won convincingly 5-1.
However, for arguably the NHL’s biggest and most historic rivalry, another outdoor game for the Bruins against the Canadiens, North of the border, would be a cool idea, and there’s one place to have it: at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec.
Olympic Stadium has seen plenty of history. From hosting the 1976 Summer Olympics, to having legendary music artists perform, to hosting MLB from 1977 to 2004 for the Montreal Expos, and many more events.
This stadium holds so much history to add an NHL game for not only such a historic rivalry, but to add more history for the stadium as well.
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