TAMPA, Fla. – There is a sense of freshness wrapped around the Lightning’s season opener Thursday night against the Senators. That is not just because the 2025-26 NHL schedule dictates a new season is here.
Rather, there are many things that a three-game home preseason schedule served to preview. It is nearly 29 years to the day, specifically October 20, 1996, that the Lightning played the first game in their current home. Thursday evening will mark the first game, or at least the first regular season game, with the venue known as Benchmark International Arena. From the building’s exterior to the ice, new signage and logos will be apparent.
Fans will also see the new Scripps Sports – The Spot, Tampa Bay 66, the team’s new television home, broadcast set in Thunder Alley, making an already-vibrant pregame atmosphere even better.
Former Bolts Pat Maroon, who retired from playing at the end of last season with Chicago, and Ryan Malone join a team that has included other former Lightning players: Dave Andreychuk, Adam Hall, and Braydon Coburn. Paul Kennedy will once again serve as host.
A new broadcast set inside the arena, on the club level that was renamed “The Mark,” is where the intermission and postgame commentary will take place.
There will be more concession options for Bolts fans. Vinik Sports Group and the Lightning have a new hospitality partner in Denver-based Oak View Group. Faster service and a wider and more appealing array of goodies are at the heart of the partnership, which includes upgraded “checkout markets” on the Promenade Level.
There will also be a hockey game, with faceoff at 7:00. Depending on where you look, the Lightning and Senators are projected to be the top two teams in the Atlantic Division.
While a top line centered by Brayden Point with Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov will lead the way again, and defenseman Victor Hedman and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy will continue to add to their Hall of Fame resumes, this season will have a few new names for fans to get familiar with.
Forward Pontus Holmberg arrived from Toronto via free agency. Fellow forwards Jack Finley, who had a very impressive preseason, especially in the faceoff circle, after playing one game with the Bolts last season, and 6-foot-9 Curtis Douglas are also among the new faces.
Douglas was claimed off waivers from Utah earlier this week and will make his NHL debut Thursday.
Can’t wait for that curtain to rise.
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