The 2018 NHL Stadium Series (officially the 2018 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series for sponsorship reasons) was a regular season National Hockey League (NHL) game played outdoors, part of the Stadium Series of games held at football or baseball stadiums. The Washington Capitals defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5–2, at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, the home stadium of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on March 3, 2018.

This was the only game in the Stadium Series scheduled for the 2017–18 season (as opposed to multiple games in 2014 and 2016), and marked the first appearance of a Canadian team in the Stadium Series.

Background NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the 2018 Stadium Series game is the start of a unique partnership with the U.S. military in which the NHL plans to host outdoor games at military service academies around the United States. In the fall of 2016, the NHL and the New York Rangers explored the possibility of holding an outdoor game at Michie Stadium on the campus of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York.

Game summary

Washington's Alexander Ovechkin scored his 40th goal of the season, while Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson each had a goal and two assists. With ten minutes left in the third period, a power outage at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium suspended play for about 15 minutes. Despite the power failure delay, the Capitals went on to win the game 5–2. In addition to the Ovechkin goal, the other Capitals players who scored were Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, and Jakub Vrana. Nazem Kadri and Zach Hyman scored the Maple Leafs' goals.

Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st WSH Evgeny Kuznetsov (20) – pp Nicklas Backstrom (32), John Carlson (40) 03:50 WSH 1–0 TOR Zach Hyman (13) Roman Polak (8) 05:20 1–1 WSH Alexander Ovechkin (40) Tom Wilson (18), Nicklas Backstrom (33) 06:19 WSH 2–1 WSH Nicklas Backstrom (20) – pp Evgeny Kuznetsov (43), John Carlson (41) 16:20 WSH 3–1 2nd TOR Nazem Kadri (24) Patrick Marleau (15), Travis Dermott (8) 07:22 WSH 3–2 WSH John Carlson (12) Chandler Stephenson (10), Jay Beagle (14) 08:05 WSH 4–2 WSH Jakub Vrana (11) Evgeny Kuznetsov (44), Dmitry Orlov (16) 10:49 WSH 5–2 3rd No scoring 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 TOR Travis Dermott Holding 02:43 2:00 WSH John Carlson Delay of game 12:20 2:00 TOR Dominic Moore Delay of game 15:28 2:00 2nd No penalties 3rd WSH Matt Niskanen Hooking 18:58 2:00

Shots by period Team 1 2 3 Total Toronto 7 12 10 29 Washington 12 18 4 34

Power play opportunities Team Goals/Opportunities Toronto 0/2 Washington 2/2

Three star selectionsTeamPlayerStatistics 1st WSH John Carlson 1 goal, 2 assists 2nd WSH Evgeny Kuznetsov 1 goal, 2 assists 3rd WSH Nicklas Backstrom 1 goal, 2 assists

Team rosters

Toronto Maple Leafs # Player Position 2 Ron Hainsey D 11 Zach Hyman C 12 Patrick Marleau C 16 Mitch Marner C 19 Tomas Plekanec C 20 Dominic Moore C 22 Nikita Zaitsev D 23 Travis Dermott D 24 Kasperi Kapanen RW 25 James van Riemsdyk LW 28 Connor Brown RW 29 William Nylander C 31 Frederik Andersen G 35 Curtis McElhinney G 42 Tyler Bozak (A) C 43 Nazem Kadri C 44 Morgan Rielly (A) D 46 Roman Polak D 47 Leo Komarov (A) C 51 Jake Gardiner DHead coach: Mike Babcock

Washington Capitals # Player Position 2 Matt Niskanen D 6 Michal Kempny D 8 Alexander Ovechkin (C) LW 9 Dmitry Orlov D 10 Brett Connolly LW 13 Jakub Vrana LW 18 Chandler Stephenson C 19 Nicklas Backstrom (A) C 20 Lars Eller C 25 Devante Smith-Pelly RW 29 Christian Djoos D 31 Philipp Grubauer G 43 Tom Wilson RW 44 Brooks Orpik (A) D 65 Andre Burakovsky LW 70 Braden Holtby G 74 John Carlson D 77 T. J. Oshie RW 83 Jay Beagle C 92 Evgeny Kuznetsov CHead coach: Barry Trotz

Philipp Grubauer dressed as the back-up goaltender for Washington and did not enter the game.

Scratches Toronto Maple Leafs: Connor Carrick, Matt Martin, Josh Leivo Washington Capitals: Madison Bowey, Jakub Jerabek, Alex Chiasson, Travis Boyd

Television The game was televised in the United States on NBC, and in Canada as part of the Hockey Night in Canada coverage that was simulcast of both CBC and Sportsnet, and in French on TVA Sports.

To accommodate NBC's preferred 8 p.m ET start time for the Stadium Series game, HNIC had an irregular schedule on this particular Saturday: the Montreal Canadiens' game against the Boston Bruins was played earlier at 5 p.m., the Ottawa Senators at Arizona Coyotes contest (on City) also took place at 8 p.m. instead of the normal 7 p.m. start time for the early games, and the late doubleheader game featuring the New York Rangers at the Edmonton Oilers was pushed to 10:30 p.m. ET.

Due to the power outage delay, NBC switched the final minutes of the game to NBCSN at 11 p.m. ET to prevent local newscasts and Saturday Night Live from being delayed.

References