OTTAWA -- Almost 100 years after Montreal and Ottawa played on the NHL's first day of action, the Canadiens and Senators will celebrate the league's centennial with an outdoor game.

The league announced Friday that the Habs and Senators will play outdoors Dec. 16 at TD Place Stadium, home to the Canadian Football League champion Ottawa Redblacks. The Canadiens beat the Senators 7-4. on Dec. 19, 1917, when the NHL began play.

"One hundred years ago, our Senators played their first NHL game to help give rise to the greatest professional hockey league in the world," Senators owner Eugene Melnyk said. "Hockey has deep and revered roots here in the nation's capital. Our team and our fans are exceptionally honored to play host to an NHL outdoor game this December that will cap off the league's year-long centennial celebrations."

The Dec. 16 game will come three weeks after the CFL's Grey Cup game is played at TD Place Stadium, which will expand its seating -- currently 24,000 -- for both the Grey Cup and the outdoor game.

It will be the first time that the Senators will have hosted an outdoor game. They played outdoors in Vancouver in 2014. The Canadiens will be playing in their fourth regular-season outdoor game.

Pierre LeBrun contributed to this report.