Rangers to face Florida Panthers at 2026 Winter Classic in Miami
The New York Rangers will play in their third NHL Winter Classic when they face the Florida Panthers at loanDepot Park, home of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, on Jan. 2, 2026. The NHL made it official on Wednesday, also announcing that Florida’s other team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, will host the Boston Bruins in an NHL Stadium Series game at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on Feb. 1, 2026
This will be the sixth time the Rangers have played outdoors. They have won each of the first five, including the 2012 and 2018 Winter Classics, two Stadium Series games at Yankee Stadium in January 2014 and one at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 18, 2024. The Rangers are the only team that has played in at least three outdoor games and won all of them. Henrik Lundqvist is 4-0-0 – the only goaltender who’s won four outdoor games.
The Panthers are one of three teams that have never played in an outdoor game. One of the other two, the Columbus Blue Jackets, will play outdoors for the first time when they host the Detroit Red Wings at Ohio Stadium on March 1 in a Stadium Series game.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman teased last week on TNT’s telecast of this season’s Winter Classic between the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks that the venue and game would be different next season.
“Next week, give or take,” he said when asked when the NHL would announce the 2026 game. “It’s going to be a little unusual. It’s going to be a little more unique. Some people think we’ve lost our minds, but we’re not ready to announce it. We will soon, and it’s going to be good.”
Looking back at Rangers’ five outdoor wins
The Rangers got their first taste of outdoor hockey on Jan. 2, 2012, when they edged the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 at Citizens Bank Park, the home of baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies, in the Winter Classic. The Flyers led 2-0 late in the second period, but two goals by Mike Rupp and one by Brad Richards put the Rangers ahead. With New York desperately trying to hang on to the one-goal lead, the Flyers’ Daniel Briere was awarded a penalty shot with 19.6 seconds remaining in regulation. The sellout crowd of 46,967 watched Lundqvist deny Briere to preserve the victory.
“There was so much anticipation and excitement going into that game,” Lundqvist told the Rangers website. “It was a lot of fun to have that first experience playing outdoors; it was a lot to take in. The game was great and had a dramatic finish with that penalty shot in the end. Overall, it was a fantastic experience.”
The Rangers played two outdoor games at Yankee Stadium in a four-day stretch during the last week of January in 2014. The game against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday afternoon Jan. 26 had to be delayed because of sun glare, but once the puck was dropped, the goals came fast and furious. New Jersey grabbed a 3-1 lead late in the first period, but the Rangers ran off six unanswered goals and chased Martin Brodeur from the net in a 7-3 victory. Mats Zuccarello scored twice for New York, and Derek Stepan had a penalty-shot goal in the third period.
On Jan. 29, the Rangers and Islanders took the ice in the Bronx on a frigid Wednesday night – it was 22 degrees with a single-digit wind-chill factor when the puck dropped at 7:45 p.m. – and the flow of the game was a lot different than it had been three days earlier against the Devils. After Brock Nelson put the Islanders ahead with 1:27 left in the second period, the Rangers got some offense from two unlikely sources. Benoit Pouliot tied the game 40 seconds after Nelson’s goal, and Daniel Carcillo banged in a rebound 4:36 into the final period for a 2-1 win. Lundqvist made 30 saves and was named the game’s First Star.
“I felt more calm and in a good place when the game started,” he said after the game. “I think the preparation was a little bit better, but I was definitely more relaxed.”
The Rangers were back in New York City for the 2018 Winter Classic, but they were the visiting team when the Buffalo Sabres came to Citi Field on Jan. 1, 2018. The Rangers came out hot on a 21-degree afternoon, getting goals by Paul Carey and Michael Grabner before the game was 10 minutes old to take a 2-0 lead. The Sabres tied it with goals in the first minute of the second and third periods, sending the game into overtime. But Jimmy Vesey drew a penalty 2:15 into OT and J.T. Miller scored 28 seconds later for the 3-2 win.
“To win in overtime provided a little bit of extra excitement around the game,” said Lundqvist, who made 31 saves. “By the time we played this game – the fourth time we played outdoors – you kind of know the process and what to expect. Your routines change so much when it’s a game like that because of the buildup, how you get there, and everything around the game. You have to just wing it a little bit. It was fun to win again.”
The Rangers’ first non-Lundqvist outdoor game came more than six years later, when the Rangers overcame a three-goal deficit in the second period to defeat the Islanders 6-5 in front of 79,690 fans in the Meadowlands. That included scoring twice in the final 4:18 of the third period to force overtime. Artemi Panarin then wasted no time getting the game-winner, scoring 10 seconds into the extra period for the win, the first by any team that trailed by more than two goals in an outdoor game.
“It was an unbelievable game,” said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, who won for the first time in the five outdoor games he’s coached (1-3-1). “When the game is coming down to it, and your best players on the ice get opportunities, power play, goalie pulled, and they needed to deliver to fight back in this game. I just liked the resiliency.”
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