Steven Stamkos to Make Predators Debut in Same Building his Lightning Career Ended

Steven Stamkos will make his preseason Nashville Predators debut at Amerant Bank Arena, where the Florida Panthers defeated him in his final game with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Photo via ESPN

When the Florida Panthers take the ice for their first game at Amerant Bank Arena since winning the Stanley Cup, there will be a familiar face on the other end of the ice.

Only, he’ll be wearing some strikingly different colors.

Former Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos will don a Nashville Predators uniform for the first time in the same arena he played his final game as a Bolt — a 6-1 thumping by the Panthers in Game 5 of the first round of this year’s playoffs.

That proved to be a seminal moment in both the Panthers’ bitter rivalry with their cross-state foe and fuel to push them to win the Stanley Cup.

The fans chanting singing “Na Na Na Na! Hey, Hey, Hey! Goodbye!” All of the memories of the Lightning sending them packing in two of the previous three postseasons. At the time, the phrase “slaying the dragon” rang large.

It still rings large months later with the Stamkos era ending in Tampa Bay.

Stamkos will make his Nashville debut in the second of the two games of the Panthers’ pre-season doubleheader against the Predators at 6 p.m.

Here are the rosters for each game:

2 p.m.

6 p.m.