With a roster dotted with new faces and veterans and primed for a successful regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning will hit the ice for the season opener in about two months.
The off-season is full of surprising moves and interesting trades, and the Tampa Bay Lightning made a few of their own this year. The Lightning did what it had to do in order to retool the roster a bit, and with most major transactions already made this summer, the Lightning can focus on their upcoming opponents in 2017-18.
While the upcoming season’s schedule was released in June, there’s still time to look at some of their top games and opponents in each month. As the season progresses, the matchups intensify, but there are still some quality meetings early on in the season.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Beginning in early October, the Lightning will hit the ground running against Atlantic Division and in-state rival Florida Panthers during a back-to-back weekend set and will also face the Detroit Red Wings twice in a span of two weeks.
Looking later on in the season, Tampa Bay will take on the defending Western Conference-champion Nashville Predators and the Boston Bruins in the last week of the season before facing off against the Carolina Hurricanes in the final game of 2017-18. As Lightning fans hope, the team will have already clinched a playoff spot by that time or will be in a position to claim one.
After all, missing the playoffs last season was a bit unexpected, especially looking at the state of the team before the start of last season. Maybe this year will end with a better outcome.
As we continue to count down the days to opening night on Oct. 6, take a look at some of the top games in each month this season to pass the time.