Hockey returned to its roots on Monday in Boston when the Bruins faced the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2023 NHL Winter Classic.

There’s something about outdoor hockey that brings out the kid in us. Step out on a frozen sheet with nothing but the sky overhead and you instantly feel like a 12-year old on a pond. Even if you’re a pro superstar paid millions to play a kid’s game.

When the Bruins took the ice at Fenway Park on Monday, it marked the fourth time they were playing an official NHL game outdoors. The first was also at Fenway back in 2010, a pulsating 2-1 overtime win over the Flyers that preceded the naming of the U.S. Olympic team on the Winter Classic stage.

They played outside again six years later, a forgettable 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Foxborough, Massachusetts. That was followed by a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the shadows of Touchdown Jesus at Notre Dame in 2019.

The most memorable outdoor game the Bruins played was in 2021 when they beat Philadelphia 7-3 on the south shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada. That was part of a two-game series dubbed “NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe,” the other featuring Vegas and Colorado. They were one-offs created to fill the void when the Winter Classic was canceled that year because of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

The NHL has nailed the outdoor hockey experience over the years. Venues like Tahoe and South Bend, Indiana, created visuals that delighted hardcore hockey fans and casual sports fans alike. Baseball stadiums like Fenway and Wrigley Field in Chicago came to life as reimagined winter wonderlands. More than 105,000 fans packed Michigan Stadium (“The Big House”) to watch the Maple Leafs beat Detroit in 2014. In 2020 and 2018 the NHL staged outdoor games on the campuses of the Air Force Academy and Navy.

Yet, for each of these unforgettable sites, there have been endless Stadium Series games played at generic football stadiums. And the sheer tonnage of outdoor games has taken away some of the excitement surrounding these events.

To bring it back to full luster the league should focus on creating memories at unusual locations. Play a game on the edge of Niagara Falls. In the Grand Canyon. In Central Park. In the Washington Monument’s reflecting pool.

When the first regular-season outdoor NHL game was played in 2003 it grabbed the sports world’s attention. Seeing a marketing opportunity, the league went all-in on the outdoor experience. Monday’s game in Boston marked the 35th outdoor game since that first game in Edmonton. There were six (six!) in 2014.

Maybe that’s why we haven’t seen the same level of hype surrounding this game. The New England Patriots, somehow still alive in the playoff race, continue to dominate local sports headlines. The Boston Red Sox and their offseason inertia have gotten plenty of play. The Boston Celtics are buzzworthy again after a four-game win streak to end 2023.

The most noteworthy thing about Monday’s game was the historic start that has firmly seated Boston at the top of the standings.

The Bruins took the ice at “America’s Most Beloved Ballpark” with a 28-4-4 record. They’re picking up points at an 83.3 percent pace. It’s historic. Only six teams in NHL history have posted a points percentage of .800 or better, and no team has done so in a full season of 80 or more games in the last 45 years.

And they’ve been virtually unbeatable at home. Boston opened up the season 14 straight wins at home, an NHL record. They still haven’t lost a game at TD Garden in regulation.

They had to give away one of those Causeway Street home dates in order to host the Penguins at Fenway. That’s a small price to pay for a big event like the Winter Classic. Even if the event isn’t quite as big as it once was.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.

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