Nashville ready for NHL Stadium Series debut

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The NHL always knew it would hold an outdoor game in Music City. It was just a question of timing.

The Nashville Predators are hosting the reigning Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night at Nissan Stadium, home to the NFL's Tennessee Titans, as part of the NHL's Stadium Series. This is the second outdoor game for the Predators, who played in the 2020 Winter Classic in Dallas, and the first for the Lightning.

“We’ve never had this experience and all,” Tampa Bay center Steven Stamkos said. “It’s been a long time coming and probably should have been sooner, but this is a great event. As a player, you watch them all the time.”

Country stars Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley will perform during the first intermission, and are among 15 singers scheduled for Saturday's festivities. The fun starts hours before the puck drops with a fan festival in the parking lot.

It just took the NHL time to bring an outdoor game to a city that hosted its All-Star Weekend in 2016 and saw tens of thousands of fans in the streets during the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. Steve Mayer, the NHL's chief content officer, said Nashville had been on the league's radar for years.

“Just the way this city responds to a big event, the way the fans are into the Predators, this was a no brainer,” Mayer said. "It was just a matter of when.”

Picking a date seems almost easy compared to the battle with heavy rain to prepare the ice rink on the field. Approximately 2 1/2 inches fell at the stadium Tuesday alone; more rain Thursday into early Friday led to spot flooding around Nashville.

The NHL learned from the 2020 Winter Classic in Dallas where the Predators played their first outdoor game and weekend rains and