The Tampa Bay Lightning will find out their full 2026-27 regular-season schedule on Thursday, July 16. The NHL will announce the complete schedule for all 32 teams at 1 p.m. ET, giving fans their first look at the matchups and key dates for the upcoming season.

Before that, the League will release the opening-night matchups on Wednesday, July 15. The announcement will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN in the United States and Sportsnet in Canada ahead of the 2026 ESPY Awards, which begin at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

The ESPY Awards will feature several NHL nominees, including the 2026 United States men’s Olympic hockey team, which is nominated for Best Team. Lightning forward Jake Guentzel was part of the gold medal-winning roster that represented Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Coming off a 2025-26 season that saw record-breaking viewership, the NHL enters the new season with an expanded schedule and plenty of new storylines. The Lightning’s Stadium Series matchup against the Boston Bruins in Tampa was a major part of that success, becoming the most-viewed NHL regular-season game ever on cable, the most-watched Stadium Series game on cable and ESPN’s most-viewed NHL regular-season game on record.

The Lightning opened last season on Oct. 9 in a divisional matchup against the Ottawa Senators. This year, Tampa Bay’s schedule will look different as the NHL expands the regular season from 82 to 84 games. Each team will play two additional divisional games, bringing the league-wide total to 1,344 games.

With the regular season starting earlier, teams will have a shortened preseason to prepare for 2026-27. The Lightning will have four preseason matchups, including two games against the Nashville Predators beginning Sept. 20 and two against their in-state rival Florida Panthers. Tampa Bay’s preseason schedule will wrap up on Sept. 26.