The Bolts Are Back In Black

The Tampa Bay Lightning are returning to their roots.

After three seasons of nothing but blue and white, the Lightning have unveiled a new all-black alternate jersey which they will begin wearing in the upcoming 2014-15 season. Tampa Bay wore black as their primary dark colour from their inaugural season of 1992-93 up until the 2010-11 season, including a Stanley Cup victory in 2004.

The new look is… basically a clone of the Los Angeles Kings current home black jersey — it’s black with white piping running down each sleeve, on the shoulder is the Lightning roundel alternate logo which is also worn on the home and road Bolts uniform. On the front is “BOLTS” running diagonally in white with silver trim, player name is coloured similarly while the numbers have an additional blue outline. Collar is blue.

“We’re very excited to unveil our new third jersey today and invite our fans to go ‘Back in Black’ this season. The Lightning are proud to honour the history of the franchise by bringing back a black jersey system.” – Lightning president Steve Griggs in a press release

Pants are black with a splash of blue (which is not used nearly enough on the jersey) via a lightning bolt, on the black socks we see a blue and white stripe.

“I’m really looking forward to wearing the new third jersey this season and I’m glad it maintains the ‘Bolts’ across the front. I’ve always liked black jerseys in the past. It’s clean and crisp, and I think we’ll look a little meaner with the new black jerseys.” – captain Steven Stamkos, Lightning press release

This also spells the end of the blue alternate jersey the club had been using since 2008-09, a jersey template and uniform colour scheme I was actually quite a fan of, although i think I’d rather it have been used with the regular primary logo on the chest… so, basically, for me, this new look is them keeping the worst of the old look and stripping the best of it.

Thankfully there is no row of palm trees.

You can browse the full photo gallery of the new look here.

The Lightning will wear the new uniform twelve times in the upcoming season, really looking forward to that inter-squad game with the Kings they’ll be playing. Full schedule here:

November 13, 2014 vs. San Jose Sharks
November 15, 2014 vs. New York Islanders
November 22, 2014 vs. Minnesota Wild
November 29, 2014 vs. Ottawa Senators
Decemeber 6, 2014 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
December 27, 2014 vs. Carolina Hurricanes
January 17, 2015 vs. Colorado Avalanche
January 31, 2015 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
February 7, 2015 vs. Los Angeles Kings
March 7, 2015 vs. Dallas Stars
March 14, 2015 vs. Winnipeg Jets
April 11, 2015 vs. Boston Bruins