Outdoor rivalry games never easy, but ‘so much fun’ for Bellemare

LAKE TAHOE, CA – When Pierre-Edouard Bellemare steps on to the ice this weekend during the NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe, he’ll use an extra moment to take it all in.

“I’m a kid from France. It comes down to that,” the Avalanche forward told NBC Sports this week. “Where I come from, how often will I have the chance to play outdoors? Another game in the NHL is huge. I never thought I was going to be here.”

Bellemare and the Avalanche will play the Golden Knights Saturday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, NBC) on a rink built on the 18th fairway of the Edgewood Tahoe Resort Golf Course. The Bruins and Flyers will play Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on the same sheet with the Sierra Nevada mountains in the background.