In the midst of the free agency signings, the NHL also dropped the 2024-25 schedule. As has been the case the last few years, the social media teams have had some fun with the reveal. This year the Lightning went with a Wes Anderson theme.
How delightfully whimsical.
Here is the actual schedule direct from the Tampa Bay Lightning:
So, the season is getting underway on the road in Carolina on October 11th and wraps up on the road in New York on April 17th. It’ll be six months of hockey fun as the Bolts look to battle their way into the playoffs for the eighth season in a row.
At first glance it’s a fine schedule. Nothing too crazy or out of whack considering that the league is taking a nice break in February for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Because the league would rather disband than play less than 82 games in a season, that does lead to a few more back-to-backs than most teams would like to play. It also gives the Bolts, at least the ones that won’t be in the tournament, a nice little break in February.
Speaking of back-to-backs, the Lightning kick the season off with one as they start in Carolina and then have the Hurricanes visit them the next night. That’s one of ten back-to-backs throughout the season. The biggest quirk might be that they have two sets of back-to-back back-to-backs. Just before Christmas they have a home-and-home with Florida on the 22nd and 23rd of December. After opening their presents and slugging down some eggnog protein shakes they are back on the ice for the Rangers and Canadians on the 28th and 29th.
Later in the season they kick off a road trip with games against Toronto and Montreal on the 21st and 22nd of January, then after a couple of days off, finish up the road trip in Chicago and Detroit on the 24th and 25th. Of the ten back-to-backs, three of them involve a home and an away game while six of them are on the road. The equipment managers are going to be busy this year.
As for road games, January is the heaviest road month for the Bolts as 10 of their 15 games are away from Amalie. The month starts with their California trip. They come back for one game at home and then head back out on the road for three. The good news is that they don’t have any obscenely long road trips with four games being the longest stretch. In March they do have two three-game trips sandwiched around a lone home game.
The back half of that stretch does include their first game in the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, and yes, if plans work out, I’ll be there on March 22nd to see Mikhail Sergachev with his new teammates.
Sergachev will receive his video tribute shortly after that trip as The Utah Hockey Club makes it’s first trip to Tampa on March 27th. Of course, the big return that everyone is circling on their calendar is October 28th as Steven Stamkos and the Nashville Predators head to town. Other returning players include Anthony Duclair on February 1st, Matt Dumba on November 23rd quickly followed by Calvin de Haan on the 25th.
January is also the Lightning’s busiest month with 15 games while February is their lightest with just 8 games, including 6 at home. The Bolts get a couple of extra days off around the 4 Nations Face-Off, which takes place from February 12-20. The players not participating will have the 10th-22nd off to rest their bodies a bit.
As for weekend games, the Lightning have 20 Saturday games evenly split between home and on the road. They play 10 Sunday games with 4 of them at home. There isn’t much Friday night action as they have just one Friday night home game and four on the road. If you have to schedule a reoccurring event and don’t want to miss too much hockey, Wednesday is your best night to do it as the Bolts only play three times.
As of right now they have 9 matinee games, including back-to-back afternoon tilts when they take on Detroit and Montreal on the road. As usual, some of those times may change based on possible national broadcast coverage.
If he turns pro, Macklin Celebrini, the number one pick in the draft, will make his Amalie Arena debut on December 5th when San Jose comes to town. Last year’s rookie of the year, Connor Bedard, will be in the house on January 28th, while the other Connor (McDavid) shows up on February 25th. With 41 goals to go to catch Wayne Gretzky it’s not likely Alex Ovechkin will set the record in Tampa during either of his two visits on October 26th or November 27th, but you never know. The Lightning do play in Washington on March 1st, and, well, you never know with Ovi, he could be getting close by that point.
The Bolts do close out the season with four of their last five games at home, all against Atlantic Division foes. With as close as things could be in the division this year, those games could have a huge impact on the playoffs.
Stay tuned for an announcement as to when individual tickets go on sale!
