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In the late 1980s, the NHL announced that it would be expanding. Eventually, a group led by the famous former hockey playing Esposito brothers (Tony and Phil), with the backing of a consortium Japanese businesses, won out after agreeing to pay a hefty franchise fee. The team was expected to lace up the skates in time for the 1992-1993 season, along with another expansion club up in Ottawa, Canada. Tampa Bay Lightning tickets sold well in the run-up until first puck drop that year.
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About Tampa Bay Lightning
The Esposito brothers were nothing if not hockey savvy, and the team created a lot of buzz with the addition to the front office of former players from the glory years of the Boston Bruins in addition to tapping former Stanley Cup-winning coach – from the Calgary Flames – Terry Crisp. Additionally, the Lightning featured in two exhibition games the goalie talents of a female named Manon Rheaume, a bit of showmanship which managed to propel sales of Tampa Bay Lightning tickets upwards.
The team and its players came out skating that first season, winning their very first game 7-3 against the well-established Chicago Blackhawks. After only a month, the Lightning was sitting atop their division, all alone in hockey glory. The play of unheralded player Chris Kontos had carried them a long way. Forced to play some of the longest road trips in the league, fatigue eventually got to the club and it finished in the cellar, though their 53 points that year was one of the best showings for an expansion club ever. Tampa Bay Lightning tickets were sought after with eagerness by many fans.
The Lightning developed over the next few seasons, finally breaking through to postseason success in 1996, making the playoffs for the very first time. One playoff game that year saw over 28,000 fans snap up Tampa Bay Lightning tickets. The next several years would prove to be a challenge, however, and key injuries sapped the club’s will to win. Early history financial troubles also helped contribute to the club’s problems.
The club changed hands twice, once in 1998 and also in 1999, when Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson bought the club from Art Williams, who’d bought the club the year before from the original consortium. Sales of Tampa Bay Lightning tickets were never bad, though, and getting stable ownership proved to be a boon.
The Bolts would then begin a steady climb upwards, first back to hockey respectability with a couple of playoff appearances and then a dream season in which Tampa Bay snagged its first-ever Stanley Cup championship in 2004. Tampa Bay Lightning tickets were red hot that year, propelled by the play of stalwart hockey machines like Nikolai Khabibulin and Martin St. Louis, finally taking their division with 93 points. After the league locket scratched the 2004-2005 season, they’d make a return to the playoffs the following year, making an early exit in the conference quarterfinals.
Though the last two seasons have been anything but stellar, the club looks to complete a rebuilding process that promises a return to exciting, high-powered hockey that will reward the fans, who have continued to buy Tampa Bay Lightning tickets regularly.
The 2010 season holds out hope for a return to the upper ranks of the league, as the club has added veterans Mattias Ohlund, Matt Walker and Kurtis Foster. Their new-look defense and healthy goalie in the form of Anterro Nittymaki will combine with future superstar Steven Stamkos to give Tampa Bay Lightning tickets a lot cachet and desire, for sure.
