Lightning 2015-16 Opening Schedule

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

 

 

 

Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning schedule, like other teams in the league, has been released.

 

Here is a glance at the opening month and a half for the defending East Champs.

Good thing the Bolts are #RoadWarriors, because the early going is going to be road heavy for them.

 

They DO open at home for the first game of the season and get to raise their Eastern Championship banner in front of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Pay attention, Fly Boys, get rid of some dead weight players, develop your young players properly, and this could be YOU in a few years...

 

One thing that sticks out to me about the Lightning opening schedule, they will be getting a HEAVY dose of the Buffalo Sabres.  4 meetings with last season's bottom feeders before November 12th.....wow!

 

On the surface, this looks like feast time for Tampa Bay with all those meetings against last season's division cellar dwellar, right?

Well, let's not forget all the young talent the Sabres have been accumulating, and if the draft goes accordingly, Jack Eichel will be leading that group.

 

Safe to say the very skilled young Lightning forwards will become quite familiar with Mr. Eichel and his crew very, very quickly.

Those Buf-TB games can turn out to be quite entertaining and fast paced. I am actually looking forward to a some Sabres-Bolts meetings. How do ya like that, eh?

 

A very tough looking trek through the Central division is in there as well.

It starts in Nashville, then has stops in Winnipeg, Chicago (Finals rematch), St. Louis then return home to face the Avalanche, who of course, are members of the Central as well.

 

A couple of rematches with the Detroit Red Wings, one in Oct, the other in Nov.....the Wings of course, were of course, a very tough 1st round opponent for Tampa Bay.  Tyler Johnson will want to see how his subjects in Detroit have held up during the off season.

 

Also of note, the Boston Bruins, who have always been a nemesis for several seasons now for Tampa Bay, are played against twice in the early going, as well as a trip to St. Paul, MN, where my boys pay a visit to my adopted sons, the Minnesota Wild.

 

Hopefully, I can get out to that game.....the Wild pummeled the Lightning last season at Xcel Energy by a count of 7-2.....I remember that well, because I was at that game. Evgeni Nabokov was in goal that game, but truthfully, Nabokov aside, the team just didn't look ready to play that day.

That game was the Bolts' 5th game of a 8 day road trip (which included two back to backs), they were gassed, and it showed clearly in this game.

 

That lead to some Wild fans I was sitting near to say, " I don't see what the big deal is with the Lightning...they are terrible."

Hah....yea. Terrible. ECF terrible, and ended up with a better showing against the Blackhawks in the post season than the Wild themselves did.

Just awful those Lightning are.....

 

Anyways, it's only June, heading into July, and still have the Entry Draft and Free Agent Frenzy Day to keep me busy hockey wise....I am now knee deep in Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Chicago Cubs baseball as well.

But very much looking forward to October, when the Bolts return to the ice....only this time, to defend their Eastern Title......and maybe make the Flyers sitting on the opposing bench just a bit green with envy, as the Bolts are where the Orange n Black would like to be at some point.

 

Braydon Coburn and Radko Gudas staring across to their former teams......it's gonna be awesome!

[TBLightning1993]

I'll be going to see them play the Arizona Coyotes and the Kings for sure.

 

I'm not worried at all about the TB v BOS matchups anymore after the trades they've been making this offseason. I'm thinking they'll be in a rebuilding stage for a few years until some of their picks settle in to the NHL. Tampa kind of surprised me by trading out of the first round today..

[notfondajane]

 

2015-16 Bolts Schedule.JPG

 

 

Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning schedule, like other teams in the league, has been released.

 

Here is a glance at the opening month and a half for the defending East Champs.

Good thing the Bolts are #RoadWarriors, because the early going is going to be road heavy for them.

 

They DO open at home for the first game of the season and get to raise their Eastern Championship banner in front of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Pay attention, Fly Boys, get rid of some dead weight players, develop your young players properly, and this could be YOU in a few years...

 

One thing that sticks out to me about the Lightning opening schedule, they will be getting a HEAVY dose of the Buffalo Sabres.  4 meetings with last season's bottom feeders before November 12th.....wow!

 

On the surface, this looks like feast time for Tampa Bay with all those meetings against last season's division cellar dwellar, right?

Well, let's not forget all the young talent the Sabres have been accumulating, and if the draft goes accordingly, Jack Eichel will be leading that group.

 

Safe to say the very skilled young Lightning forwards will become quite familiar with Mr. Eichel and his crew very, very quickly.

Those Buf-TB games can turn out to be quite entertaining and fast paced. I am actually looking forward to a some Sabres-Bolts meetings. How do ya like that, eh?

 

A very tough looking trek through the Central division is in there as well.

It starts in Nashville, then has stops in Winnipeg, Chicago (Finals rematch), St. Louis then return home to face the Avalanche, who of course, are members of the Central as well.

 

A couple of rematches with the Detroit Red Wings, one in Oct, the other in Nov.....the Wings of course, were of course, a very tough 1st round opponent for Tampa Bay.  Tyler Johnson will want to see how his subjects in Detroit have held up during the off season.

 

Also of note, the Boston Bruins, who have always been a nemesis for several seasons now for Tampa Bay, are played against twice in the early going, as well as a trip to St. Paul, MN, where my boys pay a visit to my adopted sons, the Minnesota Wild.

 

Hopefully, I can get out to that game.....the Wild pummeled the Lightning last season at Xcel Energy by a count of 7-2.....I remember that well, because I was at that game. Evgeni Nabokov was in goal that game, but truthfully, Nabokov aside, the team just didn't look ready to play that day.

That game was the Bolts' 5th game of a 8 day road trip (which included two back to backs), they were gassed, and it showed clearly in this game.

 

That lead to some Wild fans I was sitting near to say, " I don't see what the big deal is with the Lightning...they are terrible."

Hah....yea. Terrible. ECF terrible, and ended up with a better showing against the Blackhawks in the post season than the Wild themselves did.

Just awful those Lightning are.....

 

Anyways, it's only June, heading into July, and still have the Entry Draft and Free Agent Frenzy Day to keep me busy hockey wise....I am now knee deep in Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, and Chicago Cubs baseball as well.

But very much looking forward to October, when the Bolts return to the ice....only this time, to defend their Eastern Title......and maybe make the Flyers sitting on the opposing bench just a bit green with envy, as the Bolts are where the Orange n Black would like to be at some point.

 

Braydon Coburn and Radko Gudas staring across to their former teams......it's gonna be awesome!

Careful about badmouthing the Flyers they usually don't stay down to long! I understand about the Rays and Twins, why the Cubs?

[notfondajane]

I'll be going to see them play the Arizona Coyotes and the Kings for sure.

 

I'm not worried at all about the TB v BOS matchups anymore after the trades they've been making this offseason. I'm thinking they'll be in a rebuilding stage for a few years until some of their picks settle in to the NHL. Tampa kind of surprised me by trading out of the first round today..

a belated welcome to the forum!

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Careful about badmouthing the Flyers they usually don't stay down to long! I understand about the Rays and Twins, why the Cubs?

 

Not too worried about the Flyers, especially at this stage in the development of both TB and Philly.

Bolts are well ahead of them right now and for the forseeable.

 

That said, the Bolts n Flyers have always had a mini rivalry....cept Philly has had the better of it through most years because the Bolts simply weren't that good when Philly has been. I guess you could say its more a rivalry in Lightning fan's eyes than in Flyers fans' eyes due to that.

 

Oh, but we got them good in 2004 when we eliminated them in the Eastern Finals en route to winning our Cup.......and many Philly fans are STILL a bit steamed over that.

 

It's all good though. I've come to appreciate the Flyers just a hair being on this site, due to the coolness of many of their fans here, but make no mistake......if it ever comes down to Bolts vs. Flyers for a championship opportunity, I look forward to gutting the Orange n Black. 

I am sure many Philly fans feel the  same about TB....and I wouldn't have it any other way!

 

As for baseball, long story short, in addition to the Rays and Twins, I usually for about a season or two, pick a "project team" to follow (usually in the National League).

This "project team" is usually just that: a team that hadn't been winning very often, but may be on the verge of finally breaking through.

 

Some years ago, it was the New York Mets (they were pretty bad....and umm, continued to be...lol). Followed them for about 3 seasons.

Then for the last two seasons, it was the Pittsburgh Pirates. They had made some good strides and are actually to this day a decent team now.

 

Starting this season and probably into next season, it will be the Cubs.

 

It's just something I do in MLB....play a bit of "bandwagon fan" with a team I don't normally follow.

I actually do it a bit in hockey, but it isn't as pronounced because if I follow a team outside of the Bolts n Wild, it is more due to certain players on that team, rather than the actual team itself.

 

On varying seasons, I have followed the Stars, Avalanche, Rangers, Hurricanes, Flames, and this year the Flyers a bit due to VLC being on there.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Giving this thread a

 

 

Due to the news of Andrei Vasilevskiy missing time to start the season and the influx of a couple of new Bolts fans.

 

Well, the Bolts only have two back to back dates on the early schedule, so barring anything going wrong with Ben Bishop, Bolts should be good there....and either Kristers Gudlevskis and Adam Wilcox will likely be needed in either Boston, Detroit, Chicago and Winnipeg........hmm, come to think of it, any of those cities for the backup will be quite the test for'em.....even those foul Bruins....heh.

 

 

And just at re-looking at the early schedule in general (remember, I started this thread not long after the Stanley Cup was won), and depending on how much of their young talent Philly will have on their squad, that opening Phi-TB game could feature lots of fast, young exciting players hitting the ice all at once.