The NHL released the regular season schedule for all 30 teams today. The NHL will open its 91st season in Stockholm, Sweden and Prague, Czech Republic with a pair of games between the Rangers and Lightning in Prague and the Senators and Penguins in Stockholm on October 4th and 5th.
The Capitals begin the season on the road in Atlanta on Friday, October 10th with the first home game the next day against Cristobal Huet and the Chicago Blackhawks. Olaf Kolig visits the Phone Booth for the first time on November 10th.
This season’s schedule is under a new matrix that has each team to playing six games against each team in its division (24 games), four games against the non-division teams within its conference (40 games), and 18 non-Conference games — at least one game against each club in the other conference (15 games) and three home-and-home series against non-Conference teams.
Some schedule notes:
All thirty teams will be in action on the same day on Saturday, October 25th.
The 2009 Winter Classic will take place on January 1st at Chicago’s Wrigley Field with the Blackhawks facing the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Redwings.
The NHL All-Star Game will be held in Montreal’s Bell Centre on January 2tth. Montreal will also host the 2009 Entry Draft on June 26th and 27th.
Hockey Day In Canada returns to its all-Canadian lineup on Februay 21st with Ottawa at Montreal, Vancouver at Toronto, and Calgary at Edmonton.
[Full Capitals Schedule after the break.]
2008-09 Washington Capitals Schedule
| October | ||
| Fri., Oct. 10 | at Atlanta | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 11 | Chicago | 7 p.m. |
| Mon., Oct. 13 | Vancouver | 7 p.m. |
| Thurs., Oct. 16 | at Pittsburgh | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 18 | New Jersey | 7 p.m. |
| Tues., Oct. 21 | at Calgary | 9:30 p.m. |
| Thurs., Oct. 23 | at Phoenix | 10 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 25 | at Dallas | 9 p.m. |
| Tues., Oct. 28 | Nashville | 7 p.m. |
| November | ||
| Sat., Nov. 1 | at Buffalo | 7 p.m. |
| Tues., Nov. 4 | at Ottawa | 7:30 p.m. |
| Thurs., Nov. 6 | Carolina | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 8 | N.Y. Rangers | 7 p.m. |
| Mon., Nov. 10 | TampaBay | 7 p.m. |
| Wed., Nov. 12 | at Carolina | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 14 | New Jersey | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 15 | at New Jersey | 7 p.m. |
| Wed., Nov. 19 | at Anaheim | 10 p.m. |
| Thurs., Nov. 20 | at Los Angeles | 10:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 22 | at San Jose | 10:30 p.m. |
| Mon., Nov. 24 | at Minnesota | 9 p.m. |
| Wed., Nov. 26 | Atlanta | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 28 | Montreal | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 29 | at Columbus | 7 p.m. |
| December | ||
| Tues., Dec. 2 | Florida | 7 p.m. |
| Thurs., Dec. 4 | N.Y. Islanders | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 6 | at Toronto | 7 p.m. |
| Sun., Dec. 7 | at Carolina | 5 p.m. |
| Wed., Dec. 10 | Boston | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., Dec. 12 | Ottawa | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 13 | at Montreal | 7 p.m. |
| Tues., Dec. 16 | at N.Y. Islanders | 7 p.m. |
| Thurs., Dec. 18 | St. Louis | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 20 | at Philadelphia | 1 p.m. |
| Tues., Dec. 23 | at N.Y. Rangers | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., Dec. 26 | Buffalo | 7 p.m. |
| Sun., Dec. 28 | Toronto | 7 p.m. |
| Tues., Dec. 30 | at Buffalo | 7 p.m. |
| January | ||
| Thurs., Jan. 1 | TampaBay | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Jan. 3 | N.Y. Rangers | 7 p.m. |
| Tues., Jan. 6 | Philadelphia | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., Jan. 9 | Columbus | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Jan. 10 | at Montreal | 7 p.m. |
| Tues., Jan. 13 | Edmonton | 7 p.m. |
| Wed., Jan. 14 | at Pittsburgh | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Jan. 17 | Boston | 7 p.m. |
| Mon., Jan. 19 | at N.Y. Islanders | 2 p.m. |
| Tues., Jan. 20 | at Ottawa | 7:30 p.m. |
| All-Star Break | ||
| Tues., Jan. 27 | at Boston | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Jan. 31 | Detroit | 12:30 p.m. |
| February | ||
| Sun., Feb. 1 | Ottawa | 12:30 p.m. |
| Tues., Feb. 3 | at New Jersey | 7 p.m. |
| Thurs., Feb. 5 | Los Angeles | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Feb. 7 | Florida | 7 p.m. |
| Wed., Feb. 11 | at N.Y. Rangers | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Feb. 14 | at Tampa Bay | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sun., Feb. 15 | at Florida | 5 p.m. |
| Wed., Feb. 18 | Montreal | 7:30 p.m. |
| Fri., Feb. 20 | Colorado | 7 p.m. |
| Sun. Feb. 22 | Pittsburgh | 3 p.m. |
| Tues., Feb. 24 | Philadelphia | 7 p.m. |
| Thurs., Feb. 26 | Atlanta | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Feb. 28 | at Boston | 1 p.m. |
| March | ||
| Sun., March 1 | Florida | 3 p.m. |
| Tues., March 3 | Carolina | 7 p.m. |
| Thurs., March 5 | Toronto | 7 p.m. |
| Sun., March 8 | Pittsburgh | 3 p.m. |
| Tues., March 10 | at Nashville | 8 p.m. |
| Thurs., March 12 | at Philadelphia | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., March 14 | Carolina | 7 p.m. |
| Mon., March 16 | at Atlanta | 7 p.m. |
| Tues., March 17 | at Florida | 7:30 p.m. |
| Thurs., March 19 | at Tampa Bay | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sat., March 21 | at Carolina | 7 p.m. |
| Tues., March 24 | at Toronto | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., March 27 | TampaBay | 7 p.m. |
| April | ||
| Wed., April 1 | N.Y. Islanders | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., April 3 | Buffalo | 7 p.m. |
| Sun., April 5 | Atlanta | 3 p.m. |
| Tues., April 7 | at Atlanta | 7 p.m. |
| Thurs., April 9 | at Tampa Bay | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sat., April 11 | at Florida | 7 p.m. |
12 Comments
Odd question, but, does every team end up with 5 game road trips? Two in one season. I’m impressed by the length of some of the home stands, but 5 games out of town is pretty nuts.
One thing I don’t like is the western road trip in November. They play in NJ, fly out west and play in LA the next evening, then have a day off before playing in SJ. Would have made more sense to put the day off prior to the LA game, since SJ would only be a quick bus trip south, and that way the guys would have gotten some rest after the flight out.
Also, I we only have 4 SE games at the end of the season, rather than 3 pairs of home and home.
That looks a little better. For some reason the tabular format was lost when I first looked at it, and the dates got shifted. That makes a lot more sense.
Reformatting a Word document for the web is never fun. Having to strip out all the extra stuff takes a bit of time.
Bottom line is everyone plays the same number of homes and aways. There is a nice stretch in Feb-March where the Caps play 9 of 10 at home (1 @Bos). Win your home games, take care of business, do your job, and the road trips won’t be a problem.
Kinda sucks that we start the season on the road and finish the season with three road games. It’s a lot harder fighting for a playoff spot when your on the road.
MM, you’re stuck in the past. Remember the future is perfect! And in case it’s not, take JR’s advice to heart and lock up the divis…I mean, a playoff spot…lock up a playoff spot before those last three games, and it’s not a problem.
OTOH, it does seem weird to both start and end on the road.
I can’t imagine that it’s the aim of this club to compete for the eighth spot in the East in ‘08-09.
But according to Boudreau… “We just hope to be in second place because Tampa says they’re going win the division. So if we play good enough to get to second place, we’ll be happy.”
too bad the New Year’s Day afternoon game has gone.
I’ve eaten every single New Year’s Day ticket I’ve ever purchased, too many puck sodas the evening before methinks. The Super Bowl game is another one, I implore the Capitals to not make me choose between a regular season hockey game and The Mother of All Sports Parties.
See… I was lamenting the lack of the matinee game SuperBowl Sunday, then running home (or to a friend’s) for the football game.
It seems both Capitals “holiday” traditions have fallen by the wayside.
(Superbowl matinee, and New Year’s matinee)
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