TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning will play a total of seven preseason games in 2013, the team announced today. They will kick off their preseason schedule on Wednesday, September 18 against the St. Louis Blues at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, home of the NBA's Orlando Magic, ECHL's Orlando Solar Bears and AFL's Orlando Predators. Tampa Bay will play a total of two games at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

The Lightning will open the preseason with games on four consecutive nights, beginning at the Amway Center. During that stretch they will also play at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on two occasions while also visiting the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri to take on the Blues. The Bolts will then have a few days between games before taking on the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Tuesday, September 24. They will then move south to take on the Florida Panthers at Germain Arena in Estero, FL (Ft. Myers area) before finishing off the preseason in Sunrise, Florida against the Panthers on Saturday, September 28.

This season will mark the second time the Lightning will play a preseason game at Amway Center. More recently, Tampa Bay made the trip across I-4 to Orlando on September 21, 2011 to take on St. Louis. The Blues won the game, 4-3. This will mark the fifth time in franchise history the team will play a preseason game at Germain Arena in Estero, home to the Lightning's ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades. Tampa Bay is 0-3-1 all-time at Germain Arena, most recently playing to a 3-3 tie against the Carolina Hurricanes on September 24, 2002. The team also spent a portion of their 2012-13 training camp at Germain Arena.

Ticket on-sale dates for all games will be announced at a later date.

Tampa Bay is 15-6-3 during the preseason dating back to 2008.

The following is the schedule of games for the Lightning's 2013 preseason: