At the first intermission of the Ottawa Senators-New York Rangers game tonight, Commissioner Gary Bettman joined NBC to break news relating to the home team’s involvement in an annual event put on by the league on New Year’s Day.
2018 @Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic.@NYRangers vs. @BuffaloSabres.
New Year’s Day.#WinterClassic pic.twitter.com/1AJcRlTa0g— NHL (@NHL) May 10, 2017
Buffalo Sabres, New York Rangers to Meet in 2018 NHL Winter Classic
The game will be the sixth Winter Classic played at a baseball park and tenth overall. Yankee Stadium hosted a pair of games in 2014 involving the Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils as part of the Stadium Series with the Rangers winning both games by a combined score of 9-4. The Rangers previously participated in the 2012 Winter Classic at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia, winning 3-2 over the host Flyers.
The Buffalo Sabres have not been in an outdoor game since 2008 when they hosted the first Winter Classic at Ralph Wilson Stadium in front of 71,000-plus, losing 2-1 in a shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Overall this will be the 23rd outdoor game for the League since 2008 and the tenth Winter Classic, marking the tenth anniversary of the first snowy afternoon in Buffalo.
Zero players remain on the Buffalo Sabres roster from the 2008 Winter Classic, where Toni Lydman was the captain and Derek Roy scored 81 points. From the 2012 Rangers, six remain – Mats Zuccarello, Henrik Lundqvist, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Derek Stepan, and Marc Staal. Brad Richards scored the game-winning goal and none of the remaining Rangers factored in the result except for Lundqvist, who made 34 saves including one on the penalty shot against Daniel Briere in the final minute.
This is the second outdoor game to be announced for the 2017-18 season. The NHL100 Classic was announced in March and involves the Ottawa Senators who will play the Montreal Canadiens on December 16th of this year.
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