Nico Daws made 45 saves on 48 shots to secure his team's win at the 2024 NHL Stadium Series.

As the lights dimmed at Metlife Stadium, Max Weinberg, longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, grabbed the microphone and welcomed fans to the first-ever outdoor hockey game in New Jersey.

Nico Daws, 23, then led his team down the runway towards the ice, anticipating his first outdoor NHL game.

It was a frigid 28 degrees, but that did not stop 70,328 hockey fans from gathering at the stadium to see the New Jersey Devils play the Philadelphia Flyers under clear skies and the bright lights of MetLife Stadium.

It was Daws' 36th career NHL game and 12th this season after being recalled from the American Hockey League on Dec. 27. It marked his fourth straight start after Vitek Vanecek suffered a lower-body injury against the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 10.

Daws called those first few minutes of walking out and hitting the ice as breathtaking.

"To hear everybody chanting, and you know the majority of them being Devils fans it was really special," he said. "It was a lot of fun."

The young goaltender saw his captain score the game's opening goal on a breakaway 32 seconds into the game.

"Anytime you can get out to a 1-0 lead, it is going to help a lot. It makes everybody feel more comfortable right away," Daws said after the game.

"As a goaltender, you do not want to be the first one to let up a goal. You do not want to break the ice."

Daws stopped all nine Flyers shots in the first period, allowing his team to secure a 2-0 lead entering the first intermission.

The 6-foot-4 goaltender was under siege in the second period but weathered the storm, allowing two goals on 27 shots.

Daws made 45 saves on 48 shots when all was said and done and backstopped his team to a 6-3 victory. According to NHL PR, he made the most saves in an outdoor game, surpassing David Rittich, who made 43 saves on 45 shots at the 2019 Heritage Classic.

Additionally, he joined Matt Murray (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Mike Condon (Montreal Canadiens) as the third rookie goaltender to earn an NHL outdoor game win.

"That was a lot of fun," he said. "It was a really good experience, and obviously winning makes it that much better."

"For a couple of weeks now, you have seen that he's been awesome," Nathan Bastian said of Daws. "Goaltending is such a huge part of the game, and all of our goalies have helped us at different points. There have been stretches this season where, as a group, we played some tough hockey, and it's made our goalies look bad. Lately, (Daws) has been making us look good. He's so young, so confident, and so promising for us."

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