TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning are back! Well, at least almost back.
Fans still have some time left before Tampa Bay's 2023 season home opener on Tuesday, Oct. 10, against Nashville, but the team officially announced its regular season schedule on Tuesday.
The Bolts will be out on the ice for an 82-game campaign and will play their first six of nine games at Amalie Arena.
Tampa Bay will play all NHL teams at least twice and also teams in their division four times except Florida and Detroit. Those two specific teams will go up against the Lightning on three occasions. The team will also face the Metropolitan Division three times each and come up against every Western Conference opponent two times -- one at home and one on the road.
There will be 41 games at Amalie and another 41 away for the Bolts, including a pair of five straight home games from Oct. 19-30 and Feb. 29-March 12. On the road, Tampa Bay will have its longest stretch of five consecutive away games Dec. 7-16 and March 16-24.
"Tampa Bay will play a total of nine back-to-back matchups, including the only one with both games at AMALIE Arena on December 30 against the New York Rangers and December 31 versus the Montreal Canadiens," a news release from the team reads.
Team captain Steven Stamkos and company can expect to be most busy in November when the Lightning play six games at home and nine games away. The news release also mentioned this year's NHL All-Star Weekend will be played on Feb 2-3 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.