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Lightning Round: 10 Tampa Bay games affected as NHL reschedules 30 more COVID-19 postponed games

Meanwhile, the AHL announced a Syracuse Crunch COVID-19 postponement and the Canadian schedule is released

By HardevLad
NHL: Stanley Cup Final-Tampa Bay Lightning at Dallas Stars
Sep 28, 2020; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) stops a shot by Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) during the third period in game six of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place.
Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL announced a massive reorganizing of future games, including seven rescheduled games, one game still yet to be arranged, and two start time changes for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Confirmed rescheduled games:

  • Tampa Bay at Dallas, originally scheduled for Feb. 18, is now scheduled for Tuesday, March 2 at 8:30 p.m. ET
  • Tampa Bay at Dallas, originally scheduled for Feb. 20, is now scheduled for Tuesday, March 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET
  • Florida at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for March 16, is now scheduled for Sunday, March 21 at 4 p.m. ET
  • Tampa Bay at Nashville, originally scheduled for April 12, is now scheduled for Tuesday, April 13 at 8 p.m. ET
  • Dallas at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for March 1, is now scheduled for Thursday, April 29 at 7 p.m. ET
  • Dallas at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for May. 4, is now scheduled for Wednesday, May 5 at 7 p.m. ET
  • Dallas at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for May 10, is now scheduled for Friday, May 7 at 7 p.m. ET

So in short, the two Dallas games that were missed have been moved to March. A Florida game in March subsequently got moved back, and the last four games against Nashville and Dallas on this list have been moved to accommodate other changes to the lineup.

Games that still need to be rescheduled:

  • Tampa Bay at Florida, originally scheduled for May 6

This game needs to be moved because of the Dallas game on May 5th.

Time Changes:

  • Nashville at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Monday, March 15, is now scheduled for 4 p.m. ET
  • Chicago at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 20, is now scheduled for 4 p.m. ET

The first game has been moved so the Lightning can fly from Tampa to Dallas for their game on March 16th. The second was moved earlier because the Florida game the next day is at 4pm.

What this means:

Starting tonight, the Lightning have 40 games to play in the next 74 days, or 76 days until the last day of the regular season, May 10th. Within this schedule, the Lightning will have to play at least nine back-to-backs, potentially 10 depending on when that May 6th Panthers game is rescheduled. For the players and staff, that’s going to be exhausting. The strain it’s going to put on COVID risk is also worth mentioning.

Lightning Links

I’ll have more on this in my Syracuse Crunch Weekly article coming out later this morning, but the Crunch have had their Wednesday (tonight) game postponed to Monday out of “an abundance of caution.” In their release, the AHL said that the league COVID-19 protocols have affected the Crunch causing this rescheduling.

Also in the AHL, the league announced full schedules for the Canadian Division. The Belleville Senators and Toronto Marlies have been granted access to play home games in their arenas starting March 1st. I wrote about this announcement in detail over at sister site Pension Plan Puppets.

Thanks for the shoutout, Wysh!

So, uh, this is goalie interference without a doubt, right? Habs fans absolutely lost their minds on the internet last night over it. Some even called it a conspiracy led by the review center in “Toronto.”

No Lightning news in this week’s 31 Thoughts, but still a worthwhile read nonetheless.

Welcome back to the ice, Henrik Lundqvist! You’ve been missed.

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