The National Hockey League is wrapping up its run of Florida outdoor games tonight when the Tampa Bay Lightning host the Boston Bruins for the NHL Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium at 6:30 pm ET.
In this post, we’ll go through all the design-side details of this year’s game, including the story behind the 2026 Stadium Series logo, the special uniform designs for both the Bruins and Lightning, the pirate-themed rink layout, as well as a few other this-and-thats which may be interesting.
Why the pirate theme? There are a couple of inspirations here. First, the host venue, Raymond James Stadium, is the home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who, of course, go all out with the pirate theme for their logo, uniforms, and stadium design. Second, Tampa is hosting its famous, annual Gasparilla Festival, which is quite likely the world’s largest celebration of all things related to those who sailed the seven seas, yarr.
2026 STADIUM SERIES LOGO
The 2026 Stadium Series logo was unveiled back in August of last year. It features a navy pirate ship cutting through icy seas with orange (creamsicle?) highlights, with a “STADIUM SERIES” wordmark slicing between the hull and the main sail. A lightning bolt sits in the corner of the sail for the host Lightning, with “TAMPA BAY” on the side of the ship, and a small “2026” flag flying from the top of the mast. The NHL said the logo was developed by its in-house Creative Services team alongside Fanbrandz, with typography inspired by hand-drawn treasure maps.
2026 STADIUM SERIES RINK
This year’s rink will sit on top of a treasure map that stretches wall-to-wall across the floor of the stadium, with dotted routes, shipwreck scraps, mythical sea creatures, and pirate-themed floats scattered throughout. The two end zones become bodies of water, labelled “Boston Harbour” on one side and “Tampa Bay” on the other, with a series of fun, hockey-themed location names scattered around the map. Ten cannons and 120 barrels make up the map, plus another 25 pirates, buccaneers, and privateers.
The full list of place names on the 2026 Stadium Series map: Shipwreck Cove, Cirelli Cliffs, Lord Stanley Point, Vasilevskiy Bay, Lightning Lagoon, Tampa Bay, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, Thunderbug Cove, Brayden’s Point of No Return, Hedmen Reef, Vinik’s Voyage, Kucherov Cove, Hat Trick Hill, Bettman’s Bay, Bear’s Den, Cross Check Cape, Boston Harbour, Guentzel’s Grotto, Cooper Cliffs, McDonagh Marsh, Thunder Alley, Slapshot Shoals, Hagel Cove
One issue that they had in Tampa that they didn’t have to worry about last month in Miami was keeping the ice cold leading up to the game. Miami’s stadium had a retractable roof that they could keep closed while getting everything ready (it was opened for the game). The stadium in Tampa doesn’t have any of that. The NHL’s solution was to build the regulation rink inside a steel-framed, air-conditioned structure that they kept in place throughout the entire construction process, before being removed on game day. This structure was built 34 feet high, 125 feet wide, and 240 feet long, with the dismantling taking place earlier today (around 10 am ET). Two mobile refrigeration units were used, each listed at 300 tons, with 360 tons of air conditioning used to create and maintain conditions inside the structure. Over 350 gallons of water-soluble paint were used to whiten the sheet of ice.
The league is expecting roughly 63,000 fans in the building, with puck drop temperatures projected to be fairly frigid for Florida at 45°F (7°C): appropriate timing, kudos to you, Mother Nature.
2026 STADIUM SERIES UNIFORMS
The uniforms for the game weren’t unveiled until mid-December, both uniforms pay tribute to the Tampa Bay area (yes, even Boston’s), including more pirate elements and references to Florida’s sunny skies.
Tampa Bay is going with a royal blue set built around a newly introduced sky blue accent. Across the front of the jersey is a large “TBL” wordmark in sky blue with white trim, which features a series of lightning bolts, a design element that’s repeated in the player numbers on the back. Sleeve and waist striping is sky blue, trimmed in white. The sleeves include Gasparilla beads mixed with skulls and lightning, a circular shoulder patch that consists of a skull-and-crossed-swords mark. The hem loop features a tattered lightning bolt pirate flag. Royal blue pants with a sky blue lightning bolt down the side, matching socks, and a royal blue helmet with a sky blue Lightning logo on one side and the player number on the other.
Boston’s set takes a slightly different path, with a brighter shade of yellow that the club is calling “Sunshine Gold”. “BOSTON” is stretched across the chest in black trimmed in white, with its familiar bear logo in black placed below. The waist stripes are black-and-white, and the collar is white. On the shoulders, Boston has introduced a new black “B” design laid over white bear claw slashes, with subtle sun-ray embroidery worked into the sleeves. Names and numbers are black with white trim. Inside the back collar are the postal abbreviations for the six New England states, with a sunset behind the Bruins logo on the hem loop. Helmets are black with gold claw marks on one side and gold player numbers on the other. These claw marks are repeated on the pants, with yellow socks featuring black-and-white striping, and white gloves.
SHOP: 2026 NHL Stadium Series jerseys are available right now.
Reaction to the uniforms was as you’d expect for an unconventional design. Though some of the fiercest opinions were based on a set of leaked photos, they cooled a bit once the official shots helped fill in the details. As always, I’ll wait until seeing the complete set in action on the ice before forming my opinion, as that’s really the only setting in which the full design matters. You can see more reactions to the uniforms here.
GOALIE MASKS
For Andrei Vasilevskiy, he’ll debut a new Stadium Series mask painted by Sylvie Marsolais of Sylabrush. A write-up on NHL.com says the design keeps his usual lion as the central element (a nod to “The Big Cat”), then layers in palm trees, lightning bolts, snow and icicles, plus a few references tied to his Russian heritage, including a Russian nesting doll and a pair of Russian monuments. The lion is shown wearing a Russian-style hat and sunglasses, a detail Marsolais said is a nod to the round sunglasses Vasilevskiy often wears to games.
On the Bruins side, goalie Jeremy Swayman shared a look at his Stadium Series mask via a post from DAVEART.com: a yellow base with “BOSTON” across the top in black, the Bruins’ “B” mark with scratch/claw detailing on the sides, and pirate ship imagery worked into the upper side areas.
OTHER 2026 STADIUM SERIES STUFF
This is the 16th Stadium Series game since the league launched the event during the 2013-14 season. Games have now been played in eleven states, with Florida joining California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. A Stadium Series game has never been held outside the United States. Last year’s game saw the Columbus Blue Jackets top the Detroit Red Wings 5-3 before a Stadium Series record 94,751 fans at Ohio Stadium.
Since the start of the 2026 calendar year, the Lightning (.855) and Bruins (.821) have the top two points percentages in the league. Lightning defenceman Ryan McDonagh is a perfect 5-0 in outdoor games.
Country singer Tim McGraw is scheduled to perform during the first intermission, with Hunter Hayes performing the U.S. national anthem before the game. A pre-game fan festival will take place outside the stadium from 1 pm ET through to puck drop.
This will be the first NHL outdoor game played in a fully open-air football stadium in Florida, and the second outdoor game in the state in under a month, following the Winter Classic held in Miami back on January 2.
The Stadium Series game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins is scheduled for tonight, Sunday, February 1, at 6:30 pm ET at Raymond James Stadium.
SHOP: 2026 NHL Stadium Series jerseys are available right now.
