The National Hockey League (NHL) first held a regular season outdoor ice hockey game in 2003, and since 2008 the league has scheduled at least one per year.
The NHL primarily uses three brands for outdoor games : the Heritage Classic, Winter Classic, and Stadium Series. The Heritage Classic has been infrequently held four times, and has thus far featured match -ups between Canadian teams. The 2003 Heritage Classic between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens was the first outdoor regular season game in NHL history. This led to the annual Winter Classic, held on New Year 's Day in the United States, starting with the 2008 game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres. The NHL then started the Stadium Series in 2014 for additional outdoor games. The number of Stadium series games has since varied per season ( four in 2014, two in 2016, and only one each in 2015, 2017, and 2018 ). Both the Winter Classic and the Stadium series featured match -ups solely between American teams until the Toronto Maple Leafs' appearances in both the 2014 Winter Classic and the 2018 Stadium Series.
To celebrate the NHL's 100 year anniversary in 2017, the league scheduled two special outdoor games : the NHL Centennial Classic between Detroit and Toronto on January 1 (through season 2016 - 2017 ) to kick off the year, and then the NHL 100 Classic on December 16 (during 2017 - 2018 season ) between Montreal and the Ottawa Senators to conmemorate the league's very first game, having taken place exactly 100 years before, between the same contenders. The four teams involved in said honorific matches, alongside Boston and New York, constitute the sprinkling count of the league's earliest members.
