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Ladies and gentlemen, hockey is almost back! With the start of training camp and the preseason on the horizon, those dog days of summer are pretty much behind us and the 2017-18 NHL regular season is less than a month away.

Of course, preseason hockey can only be so exciting as the game results very rarely demonstrate how well a team will perform in the regular season. Still, it is an opportunity to see a wide variety of talent on the ice and get an idea of what each player is going to bring to the table this year.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will start off their preseason on Tuesday, September 19th at AMALIE Arena against the up and coming Carolina Hurricanes. This will be one of two games against the Hurricanes as the teams will face off again the following night at the PNC Arena.

The Bolts will then travel back to Tampa Bay to face the Nashville Predators on Friday the 22nd. These two teams will play each other again in Nashville on September 30th in Nashville.

Tampa Bay will be playing three games against their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers, this preseason. The first game will be on the 24th at AMALIE Arean and the next two will be played at the BB&T Center on the 26th and 28th.

In total the Lightning will play in seven preseason games. Unfortunately, only three of those games will be at home while the others will be played on the road.

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