Golden Knights schedule released for 2020-21 season

The Golden Knights will open the season with a four-game homestand starting Jan. 14 against Anaheim at T-Mobile Arena.

The NHL released its 56-game schedule Wednesday with the Knights facing each of their division opponents eight times.

The Knights will play 12 two-game series on the road and 12 two-game series at home to go with four-game series against Arizona (Jan. 18 to 24) and Colorado (Feb. 14 to 22).

“The uniqueness when you look at it is every situation is playing the same team twice,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “There are back to backs involved in that. The back to backs in the schedule this year will be different than what traditional back to backs are.”

Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo will face St. Louis for the first time Jan. 26 at T-Mobile Arena. Pietrangelo spent 10 seasons with the Blues and captained them to the 2019 Stanley Cup before signing a seven-year, $61.6 million contract with the Knights in October as a free agent.

The Knights travel to San Jose on Feb. 1 and meet the rival Sharks again two days later. The location of those games has not been announced.

The Sharks will hold their training camp starting Dec. 31 in Scottsdale, Arizona, because of guidelines for professional sports in Santa Clara County, California.

The NHL temporarily realigned this season while the border between the U.S. and Canada remains closed to nonessential travel and formed an all-Canadian division.

Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver were replaced by Colorado, Minnesota and St. Louis in a newly named West Division.

The Knights play a season-high six straight at home starting Feb. 5 with a two-game set against Los Angeles. Anaheim and Colorado also visit before the Knights hit the road for two straight at the Avalanche.

There is also a six-game trip from March 5 to 13 when the Knights play two games each at San Jose, Minnesota and St. Louis.

The Knights finish the season with two games in St. Louis on May 7 and 8, one of eight back to backs on the schedule.

“Our division is very strong. Colorado and St. Louis are two teams that have dominated the Central Division, that have had great teams,” McCrimmon said. “That’s going to provide a real stiff test for us.”

Fans are unable to attend home games at T-Mobile Arena through Jan. 15 based on guidelines and directives from county and state officials for public gatherings, but the Knights are hopeful that could change.

Gov. Steve Sisolak extended a statewide pause until Jan. 15 that restricts public gathering sizes to 50 people or to 25 percent of capacity, whichever number is lower.

“I think the NHL, in general terms, is really hopeful that as the season progresses there will be more and more fans that can safely attend games,” McCrimmon said. “We’re obviously hoping that we can have people in our arena that get to watch the opportunity to watch us live, and as importantly that our players can hear. It’s been awhile.

“We’re sure hopeful that will happen, and that’s our expectation. But again, tough to say with certainty that will be the case.”

The majority of Knights games will be on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, with times and broadcast information released at a later date.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.