Golden Knights 2019-20 schedule announced by NHL

By Adam Hill

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault (81) fights for a loose puck with Colorado Avalanch ... — Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault (81) fights for a loose puck with Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard (49) in the first period on Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018, at T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Golden Knights’ 2019-20 regular-season schedule will include a home game on Halloween night and a frightening road trip.

A seven-game homestand also highlights the 82-game schedule that was released by the NHL on Tuesday.

The Knights and their archrival, the Sharks, will wrap up their four-game season series Dec. 22. That includes the first two games of the season — Oct. 2 at T-Mobile Arena and Oct. 4 in San Jose — which the league announced last week.

The Sharks eliminated the Knights from the playoffs last season in a heated, seven-game Western Conference quarterfinals series.

Five of the Knights’ first six games are against Pacific Division foes.

The schedule includes an eight-game road trip starting in mid-January that will be broken up by the All-Star Game (Jan. 24 to 26) and bye week, meaning no games will be played at T-Mobile from Jan. 12 to Feb. 7.

After a season-long seven-game homestand, which includes a game against Stanley Cup champion St. Louis on Jan. 4 and concludes against Columbus on Jan. 11, the Knights won’t play again at T-Mobile until Feb. 8.

The season-long eight-game trip begins Jan. 14 in Buffalo, followed by Mark Stone’s return to Ottawa on Jan. 16 and games in Montreal (Jan. 18) and Boston (Jan. 21). After a break from Jan. 22 to 30, the Knights play at Carolina on Jan. 31 and at Nashville on Feb. 1 and conclude the trip at Tampa Bay on Feb. 4 and at Florida on Feb. 6.

It’s not the only challenging set of games for Vegas.

The schedule includes 12 back-to-backs, including eight in the first three months. The Knights play four back-to-backs in December, including Dec. 22-23 and Dec. 27-28.

Several holiday home games are included on the schedule. Vegas will host Colorado on Oct. 25, the Canadiens on Halloween, Anaheim on New Year’s Eve and Dallas on St. Patrick’s Day.

One of five games against Arizona will wrap up the home schedule March 25.

Should the Knights be fighting for a playoff spot or seeding in the postseason, the schedule won’t do them any favors in the final week.

Vegas ends the season with a four-game trip through Canada that concludes April 4 in Vancouver.

More Golden Knights: Follow at reviewjournal.com/GoldenKnights and @HockeyinVegas on Twitter.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.