Los Angeles Kings Announce 2017-18 Regular Season Schedule

In between the NHL Expansion Draft and the NHL Entry Draft, a schedule release can get lost in the shuffle. But the NHL did indeed release the full schedule for the 31 (!) teams in the league today. The Los Angeles Kings’ regular season schedule is below, with some thoughts to follow.

Los Angeles Kings 2017-18 Schedule.csv

Thoughts!

• Repeat Openers! For the second straight year, the Kings’ home opener will be against the Philadelphia Flyers, although this year it’s also the Kings’ season opener. Last year, LA’s first game was on the road, as the San Jose Sharks raised their Western Conference Champions banner. This year, LA’s road opener is again in San Jose, but it’ll be the second game of the season. It’s the first time since 2013-14 that the Kings’ first game is not against the Sharks, and I’m relieved. None of those games ended well.
• Road Trips! LA had two hellacious road trips last season; one spanned nine games, while the other spanned nine games with a single home game smack in the middle. To our relief, there’s nothing that bad this year, though the Kings have a seven-gamer, a six-gamer, and four separate four-gamers. Part of the reason? The Grammy Awards are now in New York, so as we surmised last year, the annual Grammy Road Trip is a thing of the past.
• Vegas! By the luck of the draw, the Kings only get two road games against the Vegas Golden Knights. November 19, 2017 will be a crowded one; it’s the first, and it’s on a Sunday at 5:00 PM, meaning that you have the opportunity to watch hockey while exhausted and deeply hung over. (Don’t worry, I won’t ask you what you did.) The other game is on a Tuesday in February, the day after the Golden Knights’ second game at Staples Center. Their first is on December 28.
• Ducks and Sharks! The Kings are again done with the San Jose Sharks early. Last year, their final game with their Bay Area foes was on January 18; this year it’s on January 15. Weird. LA’s five showdowns with Anaheim are pretty spread out. It’s too bad that in what will be a down year for a number of teams in the Pacific, the only team LA plays five times is the one that usually wins the Pacific. Such is life.
• The Home Stretch! The Kings’ last three games are outside the division, which I’m pretty sure hasn’t happened in a while. They’ll take on Colorado, Minnesota, and Dallas in their final three contests. They are at home, though, and it’s nice knowing that their final six games are in Southern California./

Anything else I missed? Add it in the comments.