Coyotes open 2015-16 season on Oct. 9 in Los Angeles
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The National Hockey League released its 2015-16 regular season schedule Thursday morning. The Coyotes will open on the road against the Los Angeles Kings on Friday, Oct. 9, with the home opener slated for Oct. 10 against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Coyotes will play 15 sets of back-to-back games and 23 Saturday games. All home games will start at 7 p.m. except for two.
The Coyotes play five games each against Pacific Division rivals Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles and San Jose. They will face Vancouver four times for a total of 29 Pacific Division games.
Arizona will face the remaining seven Western Conference teams three times each for a total of 21 games. They will play each of the 16 Eastern Conference teams twice; once at home and once on the road.
The Coyotes' longest homestand is seven games from Jan. 9-23. It features Nashville (Jan. 9), Edmonton (Jan. 12), Detroit (Jan. 14), New Jersey (Jan. 16), Buffalo (Jan. 18), San Jose (Jan. 21) and Los Angeles (Jan. 23). The Coyotes will take three five-game road trips: Oct. 20-27, Dec. 1-8 and Feb. 22-29.
Arizona will play every so-called Original Six team at Gila River Arena: Boston (Oct. 17), New York Rangers (Nov. 7), Toronto (Dec. 22), Chicago (Dec. 29 and Feb. 4), Detroit (Jan. 14) and Montreal (Feb. 15).
Other notable home games, given those teams' relative popularity in the Valley, include: Vancouver (Oct. 30, Feb. 10); Calgary (Nov. 27, Feb. 12, March 28), Edmonton (Nov. 12, Jan. 12, March 22) and Philadelphia (March 26).
Arizona plays just three Monday home games, five Tuesday home games and two Wednesday home games. Those are nights when the Coyotes typically have trouble drawing fans to the far west side on work and school nights. Of those 10 games, eight offer opponents that typically draw well in the Valley: Edmonton (twice), Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary.
The 2016 NHL All-Star break runs from Jan. 27 to Feb. 1. The midseason showcase will be held Jan. 30-31 in Nashville, Tenn., at Bridgestone Arena.
The full schedule follows:
PRESEASON
FOX Sports Arizona will broadcast 70-plus Coyotes games this season. The broadcast schedule will be released at a later date.
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