The Tampa Bay Lightning Preseason, Season Opener, and Home Opener for the 2026-27 NHL season

Montreal Canadiens v Tampa Bay Lightning - Game Two TAMPA, FL - APRIL 21: Members of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrate the game-winning goal against the Montréal Canadiens during the overtime period of Game Two of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Benchmark International Arena on April 21, 2026 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images) (Mike Carlson/Getty Images)

By Gustavo Chacon

Tampa Bay - The Tampa Bay Lightning have now announced their preseason schedule, and home opener, while we also found out their season opener for the 2026-27 NHL season.

The Bolts released the dates on social media while their season opener was announced by the New York Rangers as the Lightning will be on the road to open up their season.

Preseason

The bolts will play a home & away series against both the Florida Panthers and the Nashville Predators. The traditional neutral-site game vs the Panthers in Orlando is no-more since the NHL and NHLPA decided to shorten the amount of preseason games from six to four in order to accommodate the newly expanded 84-game regular season.

Season Opener

The Tampa Bay Lightning will open up their season in New York vs the Rangers on October 1st. Last season, the Rangers took the regular season series 2-1, including the season finale 4-2 at Benchmark International Arena. Neither team won their home games against each other. However, the Rangers missed the playoffs, while the Bolts played in their ninth-consecutive post season.

Home Opener

The Lightning’s home opener takes place two days later, on October 3rd, hosting Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Tampa won the 2025-26 regular season series vs the Caps 2-1-0, only losing the first game in overtime. All three games were played before December.

Stay tuned to the Bone for your Tampa Bay Lightning coverage and live broadcasts!