NHL 2021-22 season schedule facets Lightning, Kraken on opening night

The League released its 1,312-game schedule, 82 for every crew, on Thursday. 

The Lightning will lift their third championship banner and second in as many seasons earlier than they host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Amalie Arena in the first of two video games opening night (Tampa Bay also received the Cup in 2004). In the second game, the Kraken will start up play because the NHL’s 32nd crew after they discuss over with the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Cell Arena. Vegas turned the League’s 31st crew in 2017-18.

[RELATED: 2021-22 Regular Season Schedule]

The Kraken, who selected 30 avid gamers in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft introduced by Better Deck on Wednesday, will play their first five video games on the highway earlier than playing their dwelling opener in opposition to the Vancouver Canucks at Local weather Pledge Arena on Oct. 23.

The Unusual York Islanders will play their first game in their unusual dwelling, UBS Arena, in opposition to the Calgary Flames on Nov. 20 after foundation the season with 13 highway video games to permit for the completion of construction. it’s the most consecutive highway video games to begin up a season in NHL historical previous and the second-longest highway stretch at any level (Canucks, 14, Jan. 30-March 10, 2010).

The Montreal Canadiens will host the Lightning in a rematch of the Stanley Cup Closing at Bell Centre on Dec. 7.

The schedule contains two outside video games. The Minnesota Wild will host the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 1 in the 2022 NHL Frosty weather Traditional at Draw Arena in Minneapolis, dwelling of the MLB’s Minnesota Twins, in a game in the muse scheduled for Jan. 1, 2021. The Nashville Predators will face the Lightning on Feb. 26 in the 2022 Navy Federal Credit rating Union NHL Stadium Sequence at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, dwelling of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.

The Golden Knights will host the 2022 Honda NHL All-Well-known individual Weekend at T-Cell Arena, featuring the 2022 NHL All-Well-known individual Abilities on Feb. 4 and the 2022 Honda NHL All-Well-known individual Recreation on Feb. 5.

Video: NHL Tonight chats about All-Well-known individual and Olympic breaks

All-Well-known individual Weekend will doubtless be followed by a cease in video games from Feb. 7-22 if the League reaches an settlement with the NHL Gamers’ Affiliation and the World Ice Hockey Federation for NHL avid gamers to take part in the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Talks proceed on excellent complications, along side securing acceptable COVID-19 insurance coverage.

The NHL and NHLPA retain the authority to choose no longer to take part in the Olympics may possibly additionally silent COVID-19 stipulations aggravate or otherwise pose a probability to the health and security of the avid gamers, or for any different unbiased which will warrant this sort of decision. If NHL avid gamers don’t participate, the League will open a revised schedule that, to the absolute best extent imaginable, will adopt the dates and video games from the schedule launched Thursday.

If NHL avid gamers take part in the Olympics, the trendy season will resume Feb. 23 and enact April 29 with 30 of the 32 groups in action.

After quick realigning and decreasing to a 56-game, intradivisional schedule this season attributable to of COVID-19, the NHL will return to its outdated schedule layout, with every crew playing the total others on the least twice, and its outdated divisional alignment, with the Metropolitan Division and Atlantic Division in the Eastern Convention and the Central Division and Pacific Division in the Western Convention.

Every crew will play three or four video games in opposition to the seven different groups in its division, three video games in opposition to the eight groups in the different division in its conference and two video games in opposition to the 16 groups from the different conference.