Lightning's 2019-20 season features trip to Sweden for 2 games against Sabres
TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning announced their 82-game regular season schedule for the 2019-20 season, presented by AdventHealth, today. The Lightning’s season opener will take place on Thursday, October 3 as the Bolts host the Florida Panthers at AMALIE Arena. Tampa Bay will play six of its first seven games on the road, including a six-game road trip. Notable on this year’s schedule will be the team’s change to 7 p.m. start times from 7:30 p.m. for most weekday home games.
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 New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins two times at AMALIE Arena and once on the road. Tampa Bay will visit the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals 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 Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, home of the Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues.
Lightning single game tickets will go on sale at a later date.
At AMALIE Arena
The Lightning will open the season at AMALIE Arena on October 3 against the Florida Panthers, but will spend eight of their games during the season’s opening month away from the Bay Area. The Bolts will play a home-heavy schedule during the month of December, with 10 of 14 contests taking place at AMALIE Arena. Tampa Bay’s longest homestand of the season will be five games and take place from February 25 through March 5.
On the Road
After opening the season at AMALIE Arena the Lightning will go on their longest road trip of the season with six-straight away games starting October 5 in South Florida and wrapping up in Boston on October 17. Tampa Bay will spend the majority of the month of January away from home ice with 10 of 13 games being played on the road. The Lightning will also play six consecutive road games from January 16 until February 1, but they will be broken up by the league mandated bye-week and All-Star Break.
Back-to-Back
The Lightning will play in 12 sets of back-to-back games during the 2019-20 season, including a pair of games in Stockholm, Sweden. All but four of those will be with both games on the road. There will be one set with both games at home, on March 27 against Columbus and March 28 against the New York Rangers. Tampa Bay will play one set of back-to-backs with the first game at home followed by one on the road and two with the reverse.
Fast Facts
-- The Lightning play the cross-state rival Florida Panthers on four occasions with all of those matches taking place in 2019.
-- Tampa Bay doesn’t play 2019 playoff opponent Columbus until February 10.
-- The Lightning will play both games against the Stanley Cup Champion Blues in a nine-day span, starting November 19 and concluding November 29 at AMALIE Arena.
-- The Bolts will play six of their first seven games against Atlantic Division rivals.
-- The Lightning don’t play a game against a Pacific Division opponent until November 23 vs. Anaheim. They will only see Pacific Division opponents twice (Dec. 7 vs. San Jose) during the first half of the regular season.
-- Tampa Bay will play nearly 30 percent (24 of 82) of its schedule and 34 percent (14 of 41) of home games on Saturdays.
-- The Lightning will play 25 of their 41 games (61 percent) at AMALIE Arena on either a Thursday or Saturday.
