The NHL Stadium Series began in 2014, bringing a more modern aesthetic to the outdoor games compared to its sibling, the Winter Classic.
Last year’s event was superb, as the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets played in front of a Stadium Series-best crowd of 94,751 at Ohio Stadium.
This year’s edition promises to be quite memorable for other reasons. The Tampa Bay Lightning will host the Boston Bruins, with both teams in the thick of the playoff race. It’s being played in Florida at the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — and speaking of pirates, the event will have a swashbuckling theme, perfect for Gasparilla Pirate Festival weekend in Tampa.
To help get you ready for the game, here’s a guide on the key players to watch for each team, including in-depth statistical insights from ESPN Research, along with broadcast information.
Sunday, 6:30 ET | ESPN
Raymond James Stadium
Bruins
Record: 32-20-3, 67 points
Power Ranking: 11
Leading scorer: David Pastrnak (22 goals, 47 assists)
Notes from ESPN Research
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After a win Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Bruins will finish January with an 11-2-1 record; the 11 wins ties the most in January in franchise history, done previously in 1928-29 (11-0-2) and 2021-22 (11-4-1).
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Pastrnak has four goals and one assist in three career outdoor games. The four goals are tied with Tyler Toffoli and Mika Zibanejad for most outdoors all time.
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Morgan Geekie has 30 goals this season, which is tied for third with Jason Robertson, Alex DeBrincat and Cole Caufield. Coincidentally, all four of those players are currently not on an Olympic team.
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Charlie McAvoy has 336 career points, which is fourth among Bruins defensemen in their first nine NHL seasons, behind Bobby Orr (870), Ray Bourque (695) and Torey Krug (337).
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Fraser Minten has 14 goals this season, which is tied with Matthew Schaefer for third among rookies behind Beckett Sennecke (18) and Oliver Kapanen (16). Minten came to Boston in a trade with Toronto last spring for Brandon Carlo; the Bruins also got a 2025 fourth-round pick and Toronto’s top-5 protected first-round pick in 2026.
Lightning
Record: 34-14-4, 72 points
Power Ranking: 2
Leading scorer: Nikita Kucherov (27 goals, 55 assists)
Notes from ESPN Research
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The Lightning are on a 16-1-1 run, unsurprisingly the NHL’s best record since the span began on Dec. 20. In that span, they are first in the league in goals per game (4.06), goals against per game (2.29) and goal differential (plus-30).
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Kucherov has scored an NHL-best 31 points in January. By breaking the 30-point mark, he joined Steven Stamkos in April 2022 (33) and himself in April 2022 (31) and December 2018 (30) as the only Lightning players with 30-point months.
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Darren Raddysh has 15 goals this season, which is tied with Cale Makar and Evan Bouchard for third among defensemen, behind Zach Werenski (19) and Jakob Chychrun (18). Raddysh’s 47 points are already a career high, and are sixth among NHL blueliners.
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Jake Guentzel has six multi-point games this month. Only Kucherov (10), McDavid (nine), Sidney Crosby, Kirill Kaprizov, Mark Scheifele and Pastrnak (seven each) have more.
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Andrei Vasilevskiy has not lost in regulation since losing 2-1 against the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 18, which was his return game after missing seven contests with an undisclosed injury. Since Dec. 20, he is 13-0-1 with a 1.68 GAA and .943 save percentage.
