2025 NHL Stadium Series

The 2025 NHL Stadium Series was an outdoor regular season National Hockey League (NHL) game, part of the NHL Stadium Series. The game was played on March 1, 2025, with the Columbus Blue Jackets hosting the Detroit Red Wings at Ohio Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.^[1]

2025 NHL Stadium Series

1 2 3 Total Detroit Red Wings 0 1 2 3 Columbus Blue Jackets 0 3 2 5
Date	March 1, 2025
Venue	Ohio Stadium
City	Columbus, Ohio
Attendance	94,751
← 2024 2026 →

Background

The league announced the game on February 17, 2024, during the first game of the previous season's Stadium Series. The league will return to only staging one Stadium Series per season instead of two. NHL executives had contemplated holding an outdoor game at Ohio Stadium since visiting the venue in November 2022. This would be the Columbus Blue Jackets' first outdoor game, while it would be the Detroit Red Wings' fourth. The choice of the opponents reflects the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry, itself reflecting the rivalry between the states of Michigan and Ohio since the Toledo War.^[1][2] This initially left the Florida Panthers and the expansion Utah Hockey Club as the only teams to have not played an outdoor game;^[3] however, on January 8, 2025, it was announced that the Panthers will play the New York Rangers in the 2026 NHL Winter Classic at LoanDepot Park, leaving Utah as the only team to have not played an outdoor game.^[4]

The 2025 NHL Stadium Series shortly before the opening faceoff.

Game summary

Coming into The Horseshoe, the Blue Jackets did not disappoint as they defeated the Red Wings 5-3. Elvis Merzlikins was stellar in goal stopping 43 of the 46 shots. The Blue Jackets had goals from Denton Mateychuk, Dmitri Voronkov, Mathieu Olivier, Justin Danforth, and Adam Fantilli. The Red Wings goals came from Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane.

Scoring summary
Period	Team	Goal	Assist(s)	Time	Score
1st	No scoring
2nd	CBJ	Denton Mateychuk (3)	Boone Jenner (6), James van Riemsdyk (15)	5:31	CBJ 1–0
	DET	Alex DeBrincat (28) – pp	Patrick Kane (22), Moritz Seider (31)	13:06	1–1
	CBJ	Dmitri Voronkov (20) – pp	Kent Johnson (22), Zach Werenski (45)	17:23	CBJ 2–1
	CBJ	Mathieu Olivier (12)	Justin Danforth (8)	17:55	CBJ 3–1
3rd	DET	Patrick Kane (15)	Simon Edvinsson (17), Albert Johansson (6)	3:34	CBJ 3–2
	DET	Alex DeBrincat (29)	Erik Gustafsson (15), Patrick Kane (23)	16:36	3–3
	CBJ	Justin Danforth (6)	Zach Aston-Reese (10), Ivan Provorov (21)	17:43	CBJ 4–3
	CBJ	Adam Fantilli (18) – en	Zach Werenski (46), Boone Jenner (7)	18:52	CBJ 5–3

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	PIM
1st	No penalties
2nd	CBJ	Dante Fabbro	Interference	12:18	2:00
	DET	Moritz Seider	Tripping	17:15	2:00
3rd	CBJ	Kirill Marchenko	High-sticking	5:27	2:00

Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total DET 14 11 21 46 CBJ 6 7 8 21

Power play opportunities Team Goals/Opportunities Detroit 1 / 2 Columbus 1 / 1

Three star selections
	Team	Player	Statistics
1st	CBJ	Elvis Merzlikins	43 saves
2nd	DET	Alex DeBrincat	2 goals
3rd	CBJ	Justin Danforth	1 goal, 1 assist

Entertainment

O.A.R. performed with The Ohio State University Athletic Band with at the pregame concert, while Columbus-based alternative rock duo Twenty One Pilots performed during the first intermission.^[5][6] The national anthem was performed by the Athletic Band accompanied by deaf performer Elyssa Williams in American Sign Language. Script Ohio on Ice was also performed by the Athletic Band.^[7]

Broadcasting

The game aired in the United States on ESPN and was streamed on ESPN+ and Disney+. After airing the last three Stadium Series games, ESPN's sister channel ABC was unavailable to carry this year's game due to NBA commitments. The ESPN feed was simulcast in Canada on FX due to other Hockey Night in Canada games airing on the various Sportsnet channels; the Stadium Series was still available to stream on Sportsnet+.