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Hurricanes continue to impact sporting events across the southeast United States, as the Tampa Bay Lightning are not going to play their home opener yet. Hurricane Milton ravaged Florida and nearby areas, and the home opener against the Carolina Hurricanes could not remain on the schedule. They were supposed to play on October 12, but there will be no game there this Saturday.
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The league has not announced an official makeup date, but it did say it would let everyone know as soon as it has something to that end. The Tampa Bay area is still trying to recover from the massive storm, and it can't host a hockey game right now.
The Lightning also have home games scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday next week after the original date of their home opener. It remains to be seen if those will also be impacted by Hurricane Milton.
Tampa Bay Lightning had to move practices to NC ahead of Milton
The home opener is not the only aspect of the Tampa Bay Lightning's season that has been impacted by Hurricane Milton. Before the game on Saturday was postponed, the team had to relocate to North Carolina for practice.
Coach John Cooper said via NHL:
“For us, there’s a bigger picture. Like I told our guys, we've got to get away. There are a lot of people in our town who haven’t been able to get away. A lot of our thoughts are, 'OK, hopefully everybody is going to be OK. What can we do when we get back to help everybody out that wasn't afforded the ability to get out like we did?'"
He continued, saying that his team could bring their families, loved ones, and pets along to North Carolina. He also thanked the Carolina Hurricanes for everything they did to help them.
Cooper continued:
“You’ve got to love that about our league, that everybody is still in it together, even though we’re going to beat each other up in a couple days. They deserve a lot of credit.”
The Lightning have their season opener in Raleigh tomorrow night against the Hurricanes.
