The Tampa Bay Lightning's home opener scheduled for Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes was postponed Thursday as the area begins to recover from the effects of Hurricane Milton.

A makeup date was not yet announced.

The Lightning were scheduled to begin the new NHL season with a home-and-home set against Carolina, Friday in Raleigh and Saturday in Tampa.

The team left the area for Raleigh early in order to avoid Milton, a storm that grew as powerful as a Category 5 before making landfall in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane.

The Lightning have two home games scheduled for next week: Tuesday against Vancouver and Oct. 17 against Vegas.

Milton devastated the Tampa area, and the storm ripped through the roof of Tropicana Field, home of MLB's Tampa Bay Rays. It was the second storm in two weeks to hit Florida's Gulf Coast, following Hurricane Helene.

--Field Level Media