The Tampa Bay Lightning over the Vancouver Canucks but the impact of two recent major hurricanes overshadowed it.
Debris, malfunctioning stop lights and power outages remain around the Tampa Bay area a week . Milton came on the heels of Hurricane Helene, which also hit the region hard.
鈥淭his is different,鈥 Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e kind of been in this position before a few years ago but not quite like this. There鈥檚 disarray everywhere. There鈥檚 many people still in hotels, including myself. It鈥檚 been really tough to see how people are negatively affected.鈥
But there are signs of encouragement.
There was a standing ovation late in the second period and it wasn鈥檛 for any of the Tampa Bay players. It was for a group of power company workers from Vancouver who are assisting in recovery efforts.
鈥淗ow about the ovation that the Vancouver linemen got when they showed them on the big screen?鈥 Cooper asked. 鈥淚鈥檓 normally not looking up there a ton but that was a pretty moving moment for me. And it just shows you there鈥檚 a lot of good out there. When people come out and help each other it does make you feel good.鈥
A food drive and other activities took place outside Amalie Arena before the Lightning鈥檚 4-1 win Tuesday night over the Canucks.
Discount tickets were available and there was a pre-game video on the scoreboard regarding the storms and the role of first responders.
The Lightning Foundation toward relief to its $2 million original commitment and recovery efforts.
鈥淲ith everything going on, it鈥檚 kind of nice to have everyone come in here and let a little stress go,鈥 Lightning forward Nick Paul said.
Tampa Bay鈥檚 scheduled home opener last Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes was postponed. The Lightning , before beating the Hurricanes 4-1 on Friday night.