Lightning postpone home opener after Hurricane Milton

The Tampa Bay Lightning's home opener against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday has been postponed "amid recovery efforts in the Tampa Bay area from the impact of Hurricane Milton," the NHL announced Thursday.

Milton grew as powerful as a Category 5 hurricane before making landfall in Florida as a Category 3. It was the second hurricane to hit Florida's Gulf Coast in the span of two weeks, preceded by Hurricane Helene, which flooded streets and homes on that same side of the state and left at least 230 people dead across the South.

The storm devastated the Tampa area, even ripping through the roof of Tropicana Field, home of MLB's Tampa Bay Rays.

"Everybody's minds aren't probably where they should be," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Thursday. "There's a lot going on at home, whether it's family, friends, houses, cars -- what it's going to look like. Pretty much everyone on our team doesn't have power yet."

"There's a lot of concern for everybody there," he added. "That's our home. It's going to be drastically different than when we left."

No makeup date for the Hurricanes-Lightning game was immediately announced. Tampa Bay will open the season at Carolina on Friday, and the team traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, earlier this week to get out ahead of the storm.

The change means that Tampa Bay's home opener is now set for Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks. The Lightning are also scheduled to host the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 17.

"It's been a very stressful two days, not knowing what's going to happen," Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. "It's tough. We're humans. I've been there for 15 years, and it's been my home. It's tough to put that aside. But we've got to focus on the game [Friday] and hopefully get to go home and help out down there."

The Lightning also had their preseason finale, which was to have been played this past Monday against Nashville, called off because of Milton's looming arrival. That game was originally set to be played last month and was postponed then because of Hurricane Helene.

There was a moment of silence in Ottawa before the Senators' game against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night, paying tribute to those affected by Milton.

The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.