The Bruins take their game outdoors on Sunday, when they will face the Lightning at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It will be the NHL’s second outdoor game in Florida this season following the Winter Classic at the Florida Marlins’ stadium in Miami.
The Bruins are 4-1 in outdoor games. They have appeared in four Winter Classics and one NHL Outdoors game on the Nevada shore of Lake Tahoe. The Bruins won two Winter Classics at Fenway Park (2010, 2023) and one at Notre Dame Stadium (2019), but lost the 2016 Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium.
“Outdoor hockey, I think you can’t beat it,” Bruins forward Casey Mittelstadt said. “That’s pretty much what I do for All-Star break every year.”
The Lightning are 1-0 in outdoor games, with their lone appearance coming in 2022 in an NHL Stadium Series game vs. the Predators in Nashville, Tenn.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm is poised to become the first person to appear in an NHL outdoor game as both a player and coach. Sturm scored the game-winning goal in the 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park.
Here’s a preview of Sunday’s game:
When: Sunday, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa
TV, radio: ESPN, WBZ-FM 98.5
Line: Tampa Bay -225. O/U: 6.0.
BRUINS
Season record: 32-20-3. vs. spread: 35-20. Over/under: 31-23, 1 push
Last 10 games: 8-1-1. vs. spread: 6-4. Over/under: 6-3, 1 push
LIGHTNING
Season record: 34-14-4. vs. spread: 27-25. Over/under: 23-27, 2 pushes
Last 10 games: 8-1-1. vs. spread: 6-4. Over/under: 2-7, 1 push
TEAM STATISTICS
Goals scored: Boston 184, Tampa Bay 180
Goals allowed: Boston 170, Tampa Bay 129
Power play: Boston 26.8%, Tampa Bay 21.3%
Penalty minutes: Boston 727, Tampa Bay 690
Penalty kill: Boston 77.6%, Tampa Bay 84.6%
Faceoffs won: Boston 52.0%, Tampa Bay 46.7%
Stat of the day: Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy ranks second in the NHL with 24 wins in 34 games, one win behind Utah’s Karel Vejmelka.
Notes: Wintry conditions (by Florida standards) are expected in Tampa, with a temperature of around 45 degrees at game time, according to AccuWeather. ... Tampa Bay leads Detroit in the Atlantic Division by two points with three games in hand. ... Nikita Kucherov is third in the NHL in scoring with 82 points in 48 games. Brandon Hagel has 25 goals and 49 points in 47 games, while Jake Guentzel also has averaged more than a point a game with 55, while skating in all 52 Lightning games. ... With Thursday’s 4-1 home victory over the Winnipeg Jets, the Lightning improved to 16-0-2 in the past 18 games. ... Boston comes in as the No. 2 wild-card team in the Eastern Conference behind the Canadiens. The Panthers and the Blue Jackets are eight points behind the Bruins. ... Boston’s top two centers, Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha, did not join the club on its trip to Florida because of upper-body injuries. Center Matt Poitras was called up for his first NHL game this season, in the Bruins’ 6-3 home win Thursday over the Philadelphia Flyers. ... Fraser Minten, who will be Boston’s top-line center Sunday, has 16 points and is plus-15 over his past 15 games. ... Morgan Geekie leads Boston with 30 goals, while David Pastrnak has 22.
Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.
Matt Pepin can be reached at matt.pepin@globe.com.