the 2020 nhl winter classic was an outdoor regular season national hockey league (nhl) game, part of the winter classic series, that was played on january 1, 2020, at the cotton bowl in dallas, texas. the dallas stars defeated the nashville predators by a score of 4–2. this was the first nhl outdoor game for both teams. with a sold-out crowd of 85,630, it was the second-most attended game in nhl history.