The Tampa Bay Lightning complete a 5-game road trip on Saturday night before completing a home-and-home with the Florida Panthers on Monday.
The reason why Tampa has started the season living out of suitcases? Because of the $40 million renovations being completed at the St. Pete Time's Forum. Suites are being rebuilt, cushioned seats are being installed, an outdoor deck and party area is being created, and a pipe organ are some of the modifications.
But the coolest and most highly anticipated new addition to the Forum will be the two Tesla coils being hung that will shoot lightning bolts 20 feet each time the team scores. That's video of them being tested out.
According to Damian Cristodero of the St. Petersburg Times, as the arena upgrades are being finished this weekend, there's a chance that the Tesla coils may not make their debut on Monday (BOO!):
The issue with the two coils, which are supposed to shoot lightning bolts about 20 feet to celebrate Lightning goals, is they need to be extensively tested. If delayed it would be because of "technical related issues," Lightning chief operating officer Steve Griggs said.
"Our goal is to have the majority of the changes completed," Griggs said. "But with the construction schedule going right to Monday there could be a couple things that could be off line."
Maybe it's the angle of the video or because the team is still testing them out, but we were kind of hoping -- while still cool as hell -- the lightning would be larger and more terrifying. We'd like to see opponents jump a bit after the first string of bolts are shot out.
That's how you get the full effect from the lightning.
Stick-tap Puck buddy Andrew F. for the video