NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe was a series of two outdoor regular season National Hockey League (NHL) games, held on the weekend of February 20–21, 2021. Both games were played without fans at a rink on the 18th fairway of the Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. The elevation of the rink was approximately above sea level.
The first game scheduled for February 20, titled Bridgestone NHL Outdoors Saturday, featured the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche, and the second game on the following day, titled Honda NHL Outdoors Sunday, pitted the Philadelphia Flyers against the Boston Bruins. The series was scheduled as a replacement for both the 2021 Winter Classic and Stadium Series games, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background The NHL originally scheduled the outdoor games for the 2020–21 season prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Winter Classic, planned for January 1, 2021, was to feature the Minnesota Wild hosting the St. Louis Blues at Target Field, and the Stadium Series game was to be hosted by the Carolina Hurricanes at Carter–Finley Stadium on February 20, against an unannounced opponent. The league announced on October 22, 2020, that the Winter Classic was being postponed to the next season due to "ongoing uncertainty" of the pandemic since fan participation is considered "integral to [its] success. The decision to further postpone the Stadium Series game was made on December 23, also because fans would likely not be able to attend.
In seeking an alternative outdoor stadium with fans not likely to be in attendance, the league focused on natural landscapes capable of mimicking pond hockey and not an in-person fan experience. The Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada, in the Lake Tahoe region, was chosen over Lake Louise, Alberta, and Park City, Utah. This is the same golf course that has hosted the American Century Championship annually since 1990. The golf course was selected because the actual Lake Tahoe does not freeze over and therefore is not suitable for ice hockey play. The average high temperature on February 20 is , with an average low of .
With no fans allowed at the event, the geographic location of the teams became less important, as the games became made-for-television showcases. The nearest teams to Lake Tahoe are the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks, but the Sharks were not scheduled for the event due to scheduling uncertainties related to Santa Clara County's local COVID-19 health restrictions on contact sports, as well the expectation that the team would finish with a losing record as in the prior season. The Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins were offered the opportunity to play in both games, but decided to take part in only one contest.
With the NHL's condensed 56-game regular season schedule and limited geographical travel due to the pandemic, few off-days were scheduled between games. However, allocations were made in the schedule to make travel more manageable.
On February 10, Greg Wyshynski of ESPN reported a message from NHL chief creative officer Steve Mayer, informing them that the league had backup teams in place should any of the teams scheduled for the Lake Tahoe games become unavailable due to COVID protocols.
Unlike previous NHL outdoor games in which speciality jerseys were created, all four teams participating in the games wore their “Reverse Retro” jerseys from that season’s league-wide promotion.
February 20: Vegas vs. Colorado
The Vegas Golden Knights (VGK) and the Colorado Avalanche (COL) began play on February 20 at 12:12 p.m. PT (3:12 p.m. ET). Play was suspended after the first period due to ice conditions caused by its exposure to heat and sunlight; the game was resumed at 9:02 p.m. PT (12:02 a.m. ET). The game ended at approximately 10:50 p.m. PT (1:50 a.m. ET) with Colorado winning, 3–2.
Game summary Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st COL Sam Girard (2) Nathan MacKinnon (13), Mikko Rantanen (5) 2:58 COL 1–0 2nd VGK Alec Martinez (1) Alex Pietrangelo (4), Reilly Smith (4) 7:37 TIED 1–1 COL Nathan MacKinnon (4) Devon Toews (3) 11:18 COL 2–1 3rd COL Devon Toews (4) Nathan MacKinnon (14), Mikko Rantanen (6) 13:11 COL 3–1 VGK Alex Tuch (5) Zach Whitecloud (3) 14:25 COL 3–2 Number in parentheses represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the season Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time 1st VGK Mark Stone High sticking 16:03 4:00 VGK served by Keegan Kolesar Too many men on the ice 18:40 2:00 2nd VGK William Carrier Delay of game 3:18 2:00 VGK Chandler Stephenson Cross-checking 10:44 2:00 COL Tyson Jost Interference 10:44 2:00 COL Joonas Donskoi Goalkeeper interference 16:15 2:00 VGK Alex Tuch Goalkeeper interference 17:44 2:00 COL Andre Burakovsky High sticking 18:09 2:00 3rd COL Nazem Kadri Tripping 1:59 2:00 COL Cale Makar Delay of game 2:37 2:00
Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total VGK 8 8 13 29 COL 17 13 9 39
Power play opportunities Team Goals/Opportunities Vegas 0 / 4 Colorado 0 / 4
Three star selectionsTeamPlayerStatistics1stCOLNathan MacKinnon1 goal, 2 assists2ndCOLDevon Toews1 goal, 1 assist3rdVGKAlex Tuch1 goal
Team rosters
Vegas Golden Knights # Player Position 2 Zach Whitecloud D 7 Alex Pietrangelo (A) D 9 Cody Glass C 10 Nicolas Roy C 14 Nicolas Hague D 19 Reilly Smith (A) RW 20 Chandler Stephenson C 22 Nick Holden D 23 Alec Martinez D 27 Shea Theodore D 28 William Carrier LW 29 Marc-Andre Fleury G 35 Oscar Dansk G 55 Keegan Kolesar RW 61 Mark Stone (C) RW 67 Max Pacioretty LW 71 William Karlsson C 75 Ryan Reaves RW 81 Jonathan Marchessault C 89 Alex Tuch RWHead coach: Peter DeBoer
Colorado Avalanche # Player Position 4 Bowen Byram D 7 Devon Toews D 8 Cale Makar D 11 Matt Calvert LW 13 Valeri Nichushkin RW 17 Tyson Jost C 20 Brandon Saad LW 22 Conor Timmins D 27 Ryan Graves D 29 Nathan MacKinnon (A) C 30 Adam Werner G 31 Philipp Grubauer G 37 J. T. Compher LW 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare LW 49 Samuel Girard D 72 Joonas Donskoi RW 91 Nazem Kadri C 92 Gabriel Landeskog (C) LW 95 Andre Burakovsky LW 96 Mikko Rantanen (A) RWHead coach: Jared Bednar
Oscar Dansk and Adam Werner dressed as the back-up goaltenders. Neither entered the game.
Starting lineup.
Scratches Vegas Golden Knights: Robin Lehner, Tomas Nosek Colorado Avalanche: Dennis Gilbert
February 21: Philadelphia vs. Boston
The game between the Philadelphia Flyers (PHI) and Boston Bruins (BOS) was scheduled for February 21, originally at noon PT (3:00 p.m. ET); in the week before the game, the start time was adjusted to 11:00 a.m. local time. Due to the delay of the Saturday game, the league announced that the Sunday game would be moved later in the day, to start at 4:30 p.m. local time. The actual start time of the game was 4:59 p.m. local time, and it ended at 7:25 p.m. PT (10:25 p.m. ET) as a 7–3 win for Boston.
Game summary Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st BOS David Pastrnak (7) Brad Marchand (10), Patrice Bergeron (12) 0:34 BOS 1–0 PHI Joel Farabee (8) Sean Couturier (4), James van Riemsdyk (12) 6:41 TIED 1–1 PHI Sean Couturier (3) Kevin Hayes (8), James van Riemsdyk (13) 14:48 PHI 2–1 BOS Charlie McAvoy (2) Brad Marchand (11), Connor Clifton (1) 15:27 TIED 2–2 2nd BOS David Pastrnak (8) Nick Ritchie (7) 0:46 BOS 3–2 BOS Charlie Coyle (3) Craig Smith (3) 16:14 BOS 4–2 BOS Trent Frederic (1) John Moore (1), Connor Clifton (2) 16:47 BOS 5–2 BOS Nick Ritchie (6) () John Moore (2), Craig Smith (4) 17:53 BOS 6–23rd PHI James van Riemsdyk (8) () Kevin Hayes (9), Ivan Provorov (6) 12:45 BOS 6–3 BOS David Pastrnak (9) Jack Studnicka (1) 17:04 BOS 7–3 Number in parentheses represents the player's total in goals or assists to that point of the season Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time 1st PHI Sean Couturier Tripping 12:34 2:002nd PHI served by Andy Andreoff Too many men on the ice 6:17 2:00 PHI Andy Andreoff Roughing 16:47 2:00 BOS Anders Bjork Holding 18:16 2:003rd BOS Anders Bjork Hooking 9:31 2:00 BOS Brandon Carlo Interference 12:37 2:00
Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total PHI 11 3 5 19 BOS 8 15 12 35
Power play opportunities Team Goals/Opportunities Philadelphia 1 / 3 Boston 1 / 3
Three star selectionsTeamPlayerStatistics1st BOS David Pastrnak 3 goals2nd BOS Brad Marchand 2 assists3rd PHI James van Riemsdyk 1 goal, 2 assists
Team rosters
Philadelphia Flyers # Player Position 3 Mark Friedman D 5 Philippe Myers D 6 Travis Sanheim D 8 Robert Hagg D 9 Ivan Provorov (A) D 10 Andy Andreoff C 12 Michael Raffl LW 13 Kevin Hayes (A) RW 14 Sean Couturier (A) C 19 Nolan Patrick C 25 James van Riemsdyk LW 37 Brian Elliott G 53 Shayne Gostisbehere D 55 Samuel Morin D 56 Erik Gustafsson D 62 Nicholas Aube-Kubel RW 64 Maxim Sushko RW 79 Carter Hart G 82 Connor Bunnaman C 86 Joel Farabee LWHead coach: Alain Vigneault
Boston Bruins # Player Position 10 Anders Bjork LW 11 Trent Frederic C 12 Craig Smith C 13 Charlie Coyle C 14 Chris Wagner RW 21 Nick Ritchie LW 23 Jack Studnicka C 25 Brandon Carlo (A) D 27 John Moore D 37 Patrice Bergeron (C) C 40 Tuukka Rask G 41 Jaroslav Halak G 52 Sean Kuraly C 55 Jeremy Lauzon D 58 Urho Vaakanainen D 63 Brad Marchand (A) C 73 Charlie McAvoy D 74 Jake DeBrusk LW 75 Connor Clifton D 88 David Pastrnak RWHead coach: Bruce Cassidy
Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak dressed as the back-up goaltenders. Elliott played the third period for Philadelphia.
Starting lineup.
Scratches Philadelphia Flyers: Claude Giroux, Justin Braun, David Kase Boston Bruins: Steven Kampfer, David Krejci, Kevan Miller
Officials The same officials worked both games: Referees: Wes McCauley, Kelly Sutherland Linesmen: Matt MacPherson, Jonny Murray
Media
Both games were originally planned to be televised in the United States on NBC. Coverage of the Saturday game began as scheduled on NBC, but was then moved to NBCSN due to the delay. As a result of the Sunday game being moved to a 7:30 p.m. ET start time, it too was moved from NBC to NBCSN (with an evening game between the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals swapped into NBC's afternoon window as a replacement). Mike Tirico provided the play-by-play commentary with United States Hockey Hall of Fame member and analyst Eddie Olczyk and "Inside-the-Glass" reporter Brian Boucher. Rutledge Wood meanwhile, served as an on-site reporter in Lake Tahoe. These were the last outdoor games broadcast on NBC.
Both games were originally scheduled to be simulcast on Sportsnet in Canada. Due to the conflict with the Calgary Flames–Edmonton Oilers Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, coverage of the delayed second and third periods of Saturday's game began on Sportsnet One before Sportsnet joined it in progress. The second game was also moved to Sportsnet One.
References