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Lightning to begin 2018-19 schedule at home vs. intrastate rival Florida Panthers
TAMPA BAY, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Lightning announced their 82-game regular season schedule for the 2018-19 season, presented by Florida Hospital, on Thursday. The Lightning’s season opener will take place on Saturday, October 6 as the Bolts host the Florida Panthers at AMALIE Arena. Tampa Bay will open the season with five consecutive games at home before hitting the road for five contests against opponents from the Western Conference.
The Lightning will play each of their Atlantic Division opponents four times, two at home and two on the road. They will play each of the teams from the Metropolitan Division on three occasions. They will play the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils and the Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals two times at AMALIE Arena and once on the road. Tampa Bay will visit the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins twice while those teams will make just one appearance at AMALIE Arena. The Lightning will play each Western Conference team twice, once at home and another on the road.
The league will take a break for the 2019 NHL All-Star Game on January 25 and 26. This year’s event will take place at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, home of the San Jose Sharks.
Single game tickets will go on sale at a later date.
At AMALIE Arena
The Lightning will open the season with five consecutive games at AMALIE Arena. Tampa Bay will play nine home games during the month of November, more than any other. They’ll also play eight during February and March. The longest home stand of the campaign will be five games, which will occur on two occasions, October 6-18 to open the season and again November 21-29. They will only play four games at AMALIE in January, and none in April, when they only have four games total.
On the Road
The Bolts’ first road trip of the season will be a season-long five games and run from October 20-27. The trip will feature all Western Conference teams, including the defending conference champions, the Vegas Golden Knights. The Lightning will have three road trips of four games, five of three games, four of two games and one single game trip to Sunrise, Florida to take on the Florida Panthers. Tampa Bay will play eight games away from AMALIE Arena in December, more than any other month. The Lightning will also return to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island for a February 1 match-up against the Islanders.
Back-to-Back
The Lightning will play in 11 sets of back-to-back games during the 2018-19 season. All but one of those will be with both games on the road. The only exception will come on February 9 when Tampa Bay hosts Pittsburgh at AMALIE Arena before traveling to play the Panthers on February 10.
Fast Facts
-- The Lightning will play more home games on Thursday’s than any other day
-- The Lightning will play more than half of their schedule on Thursdays and Saturdays, with 44 contests between the two days
-- The Bolts will play only one home game each on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, respectively
-- The Lightning’s earliest home start time is 4 p.m.
-- Of the first 10 games, half of them will be played on the road against teams from the Western Conference
-- The Bolts will finish the season on a four-game road trip against teams from the Atlantic Division
-- The Lightning will play the Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals twice at AMALIE Arena, but not until March 16 and 30
