The Rangers open the season at home, close the season on the road and have 11 back-to-back games, the fewest of any team in the Eastern Conference.
Guess that’s what you get for participating in the Winter Classic.
The Blueshirts’ 91st regular-season schedule, which was announced Thursday, seemed almost palatable compared with last season’s grind. That was partially because of the late start to the year due to the World Cup of Hockey this past September, and this schedule comes unimpeded by the Olympic break in February after the NHL decided not to participate in the Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
There is still a five-day bye week for every team between January and February, and the Rangers — as well as the Islanders and Devils — get theirs from Jan. 8-12. The Blueshirts’ break comes oh-so-conveniently after their first game in Las Vegas against the expansion Golden Knights on Jan. 7, and they return to play host to the Islanders on Jan. 13.
The Blueshirts open with 10 of their first 13 games, as well as 13 of their first 18, at the Garden, starting with the season opener against the Avalanche on Oct. 5. They play the Winter Classic outside at Citi Field against the Sabres on New Year’s Day, the fourth outdoor game they have taken part in. They will celebrate the exact 50-year anniversary at the current Garden with a game against the Flyers on Feb. 18, and they finish up the season with four games on the road, concluding April 7 in Philadelphia.
All teams in the East will play their seven divisional rivals four times each (two home, two away), while playing the eight other in-conference teams three times. They play a home-and-home with each of the 15 Western Conference teams.
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The Islanders open their season on Oct. 6 in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. They have to turn around and play their home opener the next night, Oct. 7, against the Sabres at Barclays Center.
How much longer they call Brooklyn their home is in question, but for now, the two highlights will be when the Rangers come in on Feb. 15 and April 5, the latter being the Isles’ penultimate game of the season. They finish the schedule in Detroit at the new Little Caesars Arena on April 7.
The Islanders also have a few home dates around holidays, including a Columbus Day matinee on Oct. 9, a game on the night before Thanksgiving on Nov. 22 and a Presidents’ Day matinee on Feb. 19.
The Devils open their season when they get the Avalanche in Newark on Oct. 7, just two days after Colorado takes on the Rangers at the Garden. They have 18 weekend games at home and 16 back-to-back games, just two fewer than in last year’s condensed schedule.
Besides the Winter Classic, the NHL is hosting two other outdoor games. The first is the Senators and Canadiens playing in Lansdowne Park in Ottawa on Dec. 16, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the league’s first games played on Dec. 19, 1917, as well as the year-long centennial festivities, Canada’s celebrations of 150 years of confederation and the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup. The second is the Capitals and Maple Leafs playing in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., on March 3. It is the first game of what the league hopes is a series over the next several years outdoors at the venues of the U.S. Service Academies.
There is also a two-game set in Sweden between the Avalanche and Senators on Nov. 10 and 11, the first regular-season games the league has played in Europe since the Rangers opened the season there in 2011.