Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Los Angeles Kings

Tampa Bay Lightning host the Los Angeles Kings at Amalie Arena on Tuesday, January 26, 2027, with puck drop at 7 PM. It's a regular season matchup that brings the Kings across the country to face the Lightning on home ice.

If you've followed the Lightning for a while, you know they've come a long way since they entered the NHL as an expansion team in 1992, joining alongside the Ottawa Senators. They earned their first playoff berth in the 1995-96 season, and things really started to click from 2002-03 onward, driven by 1998 first-round pick Vincent Lecavalier. The team reached the Stanley Cup Final the following season, led by scoring leader Martin St. Louis and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, and won the Cup in four games.

After Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman took over as general manager, the Lightning returned to the playoffs in 2010-11, 2013-14, and 2014-15, winning the Eastern Conference title and reaching the Cup Final. Powered by Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos, they went on to win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021—the first team to win two championships within a single year—and appeared in the Final again in 2022. They play in blue, white, and black and call Amalie Arena home, the same building that opened in 1996 as the Ice Palace.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, and the game is set for 7 PM on Tuesday, January 26.