NHL reduces Lightning's travel worries
The 2007-08 schedule keeps the cluster of road games to geographically close cities.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published July 12, 2007
Maybe it was Lightning general manager Jay Feaster's powers of persuasion. Perhaps NHL schedulemaker Steve Hatze Petros was in a good mood.
Whatever it was, Feaster said his team benefited with "the best schedule we've had since we've been here."
One in which only two road trips jump time zones and that has 11 back-to-backs, tied for fewest in the East. And while there are several extended stretches of primarily road games, they are geographically based.
Feaster said that is just the kind of sensibility he asked Hatze Petros to consider.
Not only will the better-managed trips save wear and tear on the players, Feaster said, it will save "significant dollars ... at a time when we're trying to pour every penny into payroll, I'm looking to cut costs and pick up savings wherever we can."
The league announced all schedules Wednesday for the 2007-08 season that begins Sept. 29-30 in London with a two-game series between the Kings and the Stanley Cup champion Ducks.
The Lightning's highlights include:
- Three home games to open the season, starting Oct. 4 against the Devils.
- A Dec. 13 home game against the Flames, in Tampa for the first time since Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup final.
- The usual eight games against Southeast opponents and four against other East rivals.
- Home games only with the Northwest, road games only with the Central and zero games with the Pacific, meaning Tampa Bay does not face Anaheim.
- Only three games out of the Eastern time zone Chicago, St. Louis and Nashville.
- Four of the final seven games are home, but the last three are at Carolina, Washington and Atlanta because the St. Pete Times Forum is hosting the women's basketball Final Four.
But back to Feaster's silver lining.
It is difficult to see at first as the Lightning faces two nine-game stretches with seven road games and two eight-game stretches with six.
But Feaster points to playing the three New York-area teams on one trip, the three eastern Canadian teams on another. And there is nothing like last season's dreadful jaunt from Washington to Florida to Vancouver to Edmonton to Calgary to Toronto.
"We're a bit of an outpost here," Feaster said.
"I don't mind being out as long as the geography makes sense. When you're traveling across the country and you say, 'The schedule-maker must need a map,' that's when it's problematic.
"The flow of this - St. Louis to Nashville to Atlanta (Feb. 5-9) - just look it up on the map. You're heading in the right direction."
Don't miss these five games
Devils, Oct. 4: Any opener is exciting, but to see New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur and, perhaps, the Lightning exact some revenge for last season's playoff loss adds a little flavor.
Rangers, Nov. 21 One of last season's most entertaining teams went on a free agent spending spree, picking up forwards Scott Gomez, above, and Chris Drury.
Flames, Dec. 13: Calgary visits the St. Pete Times Forum for the first time since the Lightning's Game 7 victory in the 2004 Stanley Cup final.
Penguins, Jan. 10: The first of two visits by last season's MVP, Sidney Crosby, who doesn't turn 20 until August.
Wild, Feb. 27: He's going to arbitration, so let's assume 6-foot-7, 270-pound tough guy Derek Boogaard signs. Why wouldn't you want to see someone called The Boogeyman?