TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning announced the team’s 2025-26 regular season schedule, presented by AdventHealth, today. The schedule consists of a full 82-game campaign that features the Bolts opening the season on home ice with a matchup against the Ottawa Senators at AMALIE Arena on Thursday, October 9.
The Lightning will play all teams in the NHL a minimum of two times and will take on each team in their division four times, with the exceptions of Ottawa and the Toronto Maple Leafs, which they will play on three occasions. Tampa Bay will play opponents from the Metropolitan Division three times each and battle each Western Conference opponent twice (once home and once away).
The Bolts will play an even split of 41 home and road games once again and will have their longest home stand of the season with seven consecutive games at AMALIE Arena from March 24 through April 4. The longest road trip of the year will consist of five games from January 10-18. Tampa Bay is also set to tackle five separate, four-game road trips in 2025-26.
The premier event of the Lightning’s 2025-26 regular season will take place on February 1, when the Bolts will take the game outside and battle the Boston Bruins in the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at Raymond James Stadium. Tampa Bay will be competing in the NHL Stadium Series for the second time in franchise history after defeating the Nashville Predators, 3-2, at Nissan Stadium on February 26, 2022. For the latest updates on the 2026 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series, please click here.
The Lightning will play a total of 15 back-to-backs this season with two sets featuring consecutive contests at AMALIE Arena. Ten of them will see both games played on the road, while three will be split with one matchup as the home team and the other as the visitor.
The Bolts will play a total of 16 games during their busiest month of the season in March, with eight of the 16 contests set to be played at AMALIE Arena over the span of 29 days, marking the most games at home in a single month in 2025-26. Conversely, the Lightning’s busiest month away from home will be January, which will see Tampa Bay skate in nine contests on the road.
For the second consecutive season, the NHL will not host an All-Star Game as players gear up for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, scheduled for February 6–22 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Last month, the 12 nations qualified for men’s ice hockey announced their preliminary rosters, each naming six players. The Bolts saw five of their skaters honored with selections, including Oliver Bjorkstrand (Team Denmark), Erik Cernak (Team Slovakia), Zemgus Girgensons (Team Latvia), Victor Hedman (Team Sweden), and Brayden Point (Team Canada). Additionally, the Lightning organization will be represented by Jon Cooper and Julien BriseBois, who will both be on Team Canada’s staff as head coach and assistant general manager, respectively.
