Lightning will hit the road early, often in the 2023-24 season
TAMPA — The Lightning released their 2023-24 regular-season schedule Tuesday and they open at home on Oct. 10 against the Nashville Predators.
The schedule is front loaded, with the Lightning playing 38 of their 82 games by the end of this year. They will play a season-high 15 games in November (including nine on the road) and 14 in December.
Tampa Bay will play 18 of its first 32 games on the road — the Lightning struggled last season away from Amalie Arena — ending that stretch through Dec. 16 with a season-long five-game trip to Nashville, Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.
The Lightning will play each of their Atlantic Division rivals four times with the exception of Florida and Detroit, who they will play three times. They play each Metropolitan Division team three times and each Western Conference team twice, once home and away.
Game time for the season opener will be 5:30 p.m. and be a part of ESPN‘s opening night tripleheader nationally-televised broadcast.
All other Lightning home game times are currently slated for 7 p.m. with the exception of Saturday games Nov. 18 against Edmonton (4 p.m.) and Feb. 17 against Florida (5 p.m.). Game times could change if they are picked up by national TV rightsholders.
The Lightning will have two season-long five-game homestands, including an early-season stretch from Oct. 19 to Oct. 30 that includes games against Vancouver, Toronto, Carolina, San Jose and Seattle. They also play five straight games at Amalie Arena from Feb. 29 to March 14 with games against Buffalo, Montreal, Calgary, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers.
Along with their December trip out west, the Lightning have another five-game road trip from March 16 to March 24 with games at Florida, Vegas, San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim.
Nine back-to-back sets are on the schedule, including at home to end the calendar year on Dec. 30 against the Rangers and Dec. 31 against the Canadiens.
The Lightning will again be at home for Gasparilla on Jan. 27, hosting the Devils for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
With next season’s All-Star weekend slated for Feb. 2 and 3 in Toronto, the Lightning will have a 10-day break after the Gasparilla game. They will resume play Feb. 7, opening a four-game trip with a back-to-back in New York at the Rangers and Islanders, then at Columbus and Boston.
The Lightning will play four of the final five games and eight of their final 12 at home, hosting Toronto, who knocked them out in the first round of the playoffs, on April 17 in the regular-season finale at Amalie Arena.
Ticket and broadcast information will be made available at a later date.
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