The NHL released all 32 clubs’ regular season schedules today, with a triple header kicking things off Oct. 8th.
The Tampa Bay Lightning will start their 2024-25 campaign with a home-and-home, back-to-back series with the Carolina Hurricanes Friday, Oct. 11th, and Saturday, Oct. 12th, with the first game in Raleigh. The Lightning will meet the Hurricanes three times this season, with the final game of the regular-season series on Tuesday, March 11th, in Raleigh.
Key Dates
Outside of the start of the home opener for the Lightning, every Lightning fan is already circling a specific date on their calendars and waiting for single game tickets to go on sale. That date? October 28th when the Lightning welcome the Nashville Predators but more importantly, former captain and forever Lightning legend, Steven Stamkos. It will be the most difficult return in Lightning history as Stamkos was loved by the Tampa community. He still is and forever will be.
The Bolts will meet with Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers for the first time of the season on Dec. 10th. The Oilers are coming off a tremendous season that saw them go from a team with no confidence and far behind the Western Conference pack for a playoff spot, to becoming Western Conference Champions and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006. The Oilers would fall to the Hurricanes in 2006, and fall to the Florida Panthers this season in what was an amazing Stanley Cup Final that saw the Oilers come back from a 3-0 series deficit to force Game 7.
The Battle of the Sunshine State will renew Dec. 22nd when the Lightning and Panthers meet for the first of a four-game regular season series. It will sure be a good one as they will meet for a back-to-back home-and-home, with the Panthers making the trip up to Tampa for the first of the back-to-back. Last season saw the Lightning and Panthers meet three times in the regular season, with the Panthers taking it 2-1. The Battle of the Sunshine State would carry on to the postseason for the third time in four years, this time with the Panthers coming out on top, 4-1 in the best-of-seven series. The Panthers hold an all-time regular season series record of 77-51-10-19 against the Lightning while the Lightning are 9-6 against the Panthers in the postseason.
March 27th will be another huge welcome back to Tampa for the fans and Lightning. The Utah Hockey Club will make it’s first ever appearance inside of Amalie Arena and they will be bringing a very familiar face with them, Mikhail Sergachev. Sergachev was traded to Utah in exchange for Conor Geekie, J.J. Moser, and a couple draft picks. It will be strange for all of Tampa to look across the ice and onto the Utah bench to see Sergachev there and not in Bolt blue.
The Lighting will have 13 total back-to-backs, which is more than they had last season:
Oct. 11th and 12th vs. Carolina (home and home)
Oct. 21st at Toronto Maple Leafs and Oct. 22nd at New Jersey Devils
Nov. 29th at Nashville and Nov. 30th vs. Toronto
Dec. 22nd and 23rd vs. Florida (home and home)
Dec. 28th vs. New York Rangers and Dec. 29th vs. Montreal Canadiens
Jan. 4th at Los Angeles Kings and Jan. 5th at Anaheim Ducks
Jan. 11th at New Jersey and Jan 12th at Pittsburgh Penguins
Jan. 20th at Toronto and Jan. 21st at Montreal
Jan. 24th at Chicago Blackhawks and Jan. 25 at Detroit Red Wings
Jan. 30th vs. Low Angeles and Feb. 1st vs. New York Islanders
Feb. 8th at Detroit and Feb. 9th at Montreal
March 3rd at Florida and March 4th vs Columbus Blue Jackets
March 22nd at Utah and March 23rd at Vegas Golden Knights
Schedule by Team
Anaheim Ducks: at Anaheim Jan. 5th and vs. Anaheim Jan. 16th
Boston Bruins: vs. Boston Jan. 9th, at Boston Jan. 14th, vs. Boston March 8th, at Boston March 15th
Buffalo Sabres: vs. Buffalo March 6th, at Buffalo April 5th, vs. Buffalo April 13th
Calgary Flames: at Calgary Dec. 12th and vs. Calgary Feb. 27th
Carolina Hurricanes: at Carolina Oct. 11th, vs. Carolina Oct. 12th, at Carolina March 11th
Chicago Blackhawks: at Chicago Jan. 24th and vs. Chicago Jan. 28th
Colorado Avalanche: at Colorado Oct. 30th and vs. Colorado Nov. 25th
Columbus Blue Jackets: at Columbus Nov. 21, vs. Columbus Dec. 17th, vs. Columbus March 4th
Dallas Stars: vs. Dallas Nov. 23rd and at Dallas March 20th
Detroit Red Wings: vs Detroit Jan. 18th, at Detroit Jan. 25th, at Detroit Jan. 8th, vs. Detroit April 11th
Edmonton Oilers: at Edmonton Dec. 10th and vs Edmonton Feb. 25th
Florida Panthers: vs. Florida Dec. 22nd, at Florida Dec. 23rd, at Florida March 3rd, vs Florida April 15th
Los Angeles Kings: at Los Angeles Jan 4th. and vs Los Angeles Jan. 30th
Minnesota Wild: vs. Minnesota Oct. 24th and at Minnesota Nov. 1st
Montreal Canadiens: vs Montreal Dec. 29th, at Montreal Jan. 21st, at Montreal Feb. 9th
Nashville Predators: vs. Nashville Oct. 28th and at Nashville Nov. 29th
New Jersey Devils: at New Jersey Oct. 22nd, vs. New Jersey Nov. 16th, at New Jersey Jan. 11th
New York Islanders: vs. NYI Feb. 1st, vs. NYI March 29th, at NYI April 1st
New York Rangers: vs. NYR Dec. 28th, at NYR April 7th, at NYR April 17th
Ottawa Senators: at Ottawa Oct. 19th, vs. Ottawa Feb 4th, vs. Ottawa Feb. 6th, at Ottawa April 3rd
Philadelphia Flyers: vs. Philadelphia Nov. 7th, at Philadelphia March 13th, vs. Philadelphia March 17th
Pittsburgh Penguins: at Pittsburgh Nov. 19th, at Pittsburgh Jan. 12th, vs. Pittsburgh March 25th
San Jose Sharks: vs. San Jose Dec. 5th and at San Jose Jan. 2nd
Seattle Kraken: at Seattle Dec. 14th and vs. Seattle Feb. 23rd
St. Louis Blues: at St. Louis Nov. 5th and vs. St. Louis Dec. 19th
Toronto Maple Leafs: at Toronto Oct. 21st, vs. Toronto Nov. 30th, at Toronto Jan. 20th, vs. Toronto April 9th
Utah Hockey Club: at Utah March 22nd and vs Utah March 27th
Vancouver Canucks: vs. Vancouver Oct. 15th and at Vancouver Dec. 8th
Vegas Golden Knights: vs. Vegas Oct. 17th and at Vegas March 23rd
Washington Capitals: vs. Washington Oct. 26th, vs Washington Nov. 27th, at Washington March 1st
Winnipeg Jets: at Winnipeg Nov. 3rd and vs. Winnipeg Nov. 14th
