5 Golden Knights games you don’t want to miss this season
There are only 105 days remaining until the Golden Knights play meaningful hockey games again.
The NHL announced its 2023-24 regular-season schedule Tuesday, and the reigning Stanley Cup champions don’t get much time off before opening their title defense Oct. 10 against the Seattle Kraken. The Knights will finish the year April 18 against Anaheim before attempting another deep playoff run.
In between, the team will fit in plenty of action in its seventh season.
Here are five highlights from the Knights’ schedule:
1. Banner night
T-Mobile Arena’s rafters are about to get a lot more crowded.
The Knights need to add Pacific Division, Western Conference and Stanley Cup championship banners after all of last season’s success, and they’ll get to do so on NHL opening night Oct. 10.
The team’s 7:30 p.m. game with the Kraken closes out an ESPN tripleheader. It will mark the second time in three seasons the NHL’s two most recent expansion teams will start their seasons against one another. The Knights won 4-3 on Oct. 12, 2021, in Seattle’s first game.
2. Winter Classic
Get ready for outdoor hockey.
The Knights will play in the open air for the first time with fans in the stands when they face the Kraken in the 2024 Winter Classic at noon New Year’s Day. The NHL’s marquee regular-season event will take place at the Seattle Mariners’ T-Mobile Park and air on TNT.
It will be the Knights’ second outdoor game after they lost 3-2 to Colorado at Edgewood Tahoe Resort on Feb. 20, 2021. Fans were not allowed to attend that event, but T-Mobile Park has a listed capacity of 48,000.
3. Cats come back
The Knights come right back from the Winter Classic with another key matchup.
They’ll play the Florida Panthers — whom they defeated in five games in the Stanley Cup Final — at T-Mobile Arena on Jan. 4. It will be the Panthers’ only visit to the building where their championship dreams were ended with a 9-3 loss in Game 5 on June 13.
The Knights will also play in Sunrise, Florida, on Dec. 23 in their last game before the NHL’s annual holiday break.
4. McDavid’s moment
The Knights’ most intense series of the playoffs came in the second round against the Edmonton Oilers, where their depth advantage was too much for superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to overcome.
Unfortunately, the two sides won’t have many opportunities to build on that animosity. McDavid, who won his third Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in eight seasons Monday, is only scheduled to visit T-Mobile Arena once on Feb. 6.
The Knights will visit Edmonton twice Nov. 28 and April 10. But any more meetings in Las Vegas will have to wait until the postseason.
5. Holiday specials
The Knights, as they do every year, also play on a few festive occasions that should be of interest to fans.
Their Nevada Day game will be 3 p.m. Oct. 27 against the Chicago Blackhawks. They’ll also play the New Jersey Devils at 12:30 p.m. March 17 on Saint Patrick’s Day.
The Knights will piggyback off Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium as well. They’ll host Minnesota at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at T-Mobile Arena the day after the NFL’s championship game.