The NHL announced the home opener for each team on Saturday, and the Ottawa Senators will be among the last teams to drop the puck on home ice.
The league kicks off on October 8th, but Scotiabank Place will be dark for regular season action until over a week later, when the Ottawa Senators host Nathan MacKinnon, coach Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday October 16th. Montreal also opens their home schedule that night while only the Anaheim Ducks and Winnipeg Jets start later, on October 17 and the New Jersey Devils on the 18th.
Ottawa will play in one season opener other than their own. They will open the season on Thursday, October 9th in Nashville, meaning they will have to sit around in the dressing room waiting through an opposing team’s ceremony just the one time. You have to think with that start that the Senators will open with a 3 game road trip, possibly hitting markets like Minnesota or Colorado as well before finally getting home.
The road trip will set the tone for the season as possibly a new-look Ottawa Senators team will get a chance to do some early bonding on the road to get ready for the grind of the full NHL season that might be a difficult one to sit through.
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The curtain will raise on the 8th, with Toronto hosting Montreal, Boston welcoming Philadelphia, Vancouver visiting Calgary and the night wraps up with the Los Angeles Kings raising their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters of Staples Center. The Kings will get to do it in front of their rival San Jose Sharks, who will only be able to look on wistfully and think about what might have been if they had only been able to finish off their 3-0 series lead.
The rest of the schedule will be released Sunday afternoon at 4:00 pm.