Bruins Beat Blackhawks in Winter Classic At Notre Dame Stadium

The Boston Bruins scored a pair of power play goals and goalie Tukka Rask had 36 saves as the Bruins beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 in the Winter Classic on January 1st, 2019. This year’s edition of the annual outdoor game on New Year’s Day was played at Notre Dame’s football stadium in South Bend, Indiana in front of over 76,000 mostly Blackhawks fans, with South Bend being much closer to Chicago than Boston.

Though these outdoor games are popular crowd pleasers that are a throwback to the old days of hockey, they have not gone well for the Blackhawks. Chicago in 0-4 in Winter Classics, and has split two of four Stadium Series outdoor games for an overall 1-5 record outside. The Blackhawks’ only outdoor victory was at Chicago’s Soldier Field on March 1st 2014, a 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Boston is now 2-1 outdoors.

Help may be on the way. The NHL has announced some future venues for outdoor games, and although not all the teams have been announced for these games, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman indicated that neither the Hawks or Bruins would likely be involved. This year’s other outdoor game, the Stadium Series, will be February 2019 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and will feature the hometown Flyers against Pittsburgh.

Next season, the irregularly held Heritage Classic, which features two Canadian teams, will be played for the first time since 2016. That game will be held October 26th, 2019 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan and will have the Winnipeg Jets facing off against the Calgary Flames.

The January 1st, 2020 Winter Classic will be held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and will have the host Dallas Stars playing an opponent to be determined. Next season’s Stadium Series game will be held in Colorado Springs at Falcon Field, home of the Air Force Academy’s football team. The Colorado Avalanche will play an opponent to be determined in that one on February 15th, 2020.