Tampa Bay Lightning postpone home opener against Hurricanes amid recovery efforts from Hurricane Milton

The Bolts have pushed their home opener as Tampa recovers from Hurricane Milton

The Tampa Bay Lightning have postponed their 2024-25 home opener due to Hurricane Milton. The Lightning were scheduled to play the Carolina Hurricanes at Amalie Arena on Saturday night, but that game has been moved to a later date.

On Thursday afternoon, the NHL announced that the game between the Lightning and Hurricanes would be postponed as the city recovers from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday night. A makeup date for the game will be announced later.

The Lightning will be in Raleigh, North Carolina, for their regularly scheduled season opener against the Hurricanes on Friday night. The team left Tampa on Monday night in anticipation of Hurricane Milton.

This is now the third time in the last few weeks that the Lightning have had to postpone or cancel a game due to hurricanes. Tampa originally postponed a preseason game against the Nashville Predators due to Hurricane Helene, and the makeup date was slated for Monday night.

With Hurricane Milton bearing down on the region, that game was canceled in order to allow the Lightning to leave town early.

The Lightning weren't the only team that had travel plans affected by the hurricane. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers left for New Orleans on Tuesday, well ahead of Sunday's matchup against the Saints. Further north, the Jacksonville Jaguars had their flight to London delayed, although that game is still scheduled to take place on Sunday morning.