Just a reminder Lightning single-game tickets are on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. at the St. Pete Times Forum box office and all Ticketmaster locations. To order by phone, call the box office at (813) 301-6600 or Ticketmaster at (813) 287-8844 or (727) 898-2100.

How have the Lightning’s season-ticket sales gone? Spokesman Bill Wickett said as of Sept. 1, the team had sold the equivalent of 9,800. That is down from about 11,000 at the same time last year. But Wickett pointed out, the 4,100 packages sold since July 1, just after OK Hockey took ownership, dwarfs the 1,800 sold last year from July 1-Sept. 1, a period Wickett described as generally “dead, dead, dead,” for sales.

"Once they (OK Hockey) had a chance to get their message out, we were able to get something done," Wickett said.

Finishing out of the playoffs for the first time in five seasons had a negative effect on season-ticket sales, which Wickett said totaled 13,000-plus last season. Usually, the best playoff-ticket deals are tied to purchasing season tickets for the next season. Without that marketing tool, the Lightning’s base was 5,700 on July 1 compared to 9,200 a year earlier.

"It put us in a hole," Wickett said. "We’re still in it, but we’re starting to climb out."