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Here's regular-season schedule; writers' awards ballots now public

June 21, 2018, 7:32 PM ET [4 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The NHL released the 2018-19 regular season schedule Thursday, and the Avalanche will open at the Pepsi Center against Minnesota on Thursday Oct. 4, the fourth time in seven years they begin play against the Wild.

It will mark the 10th time in 13 seasons they open at home, but 11 of the first 17 games will be played on the road, along with 14 of the first 22 and 19 of the first 30.

They’ll close regular-season play on Saturday, April 6, at San Jose.

*****

FYI: If you’re interested to see how each writer voted for the NHL awards, here’s the link: NHL AWARDS VOTERS. Kudos to the Professional Hockey Writers Association for being transparent.

I didn’t have a vote and I don’t have a problem with New Jersey’s Taylor Hall winning the Hart Trophy; he was terrific and led the Devils to a playoff berth.

But some of the results are, um, interesting, to say the least.

I mean, four voters didn’t list Nathan MacKinnon at all, one of whom picked Evgeni Malkin first and Sidney Crosby fifth. Huh? How can two Pittsburgh guys be “most valuable” to a team?

I'd be embarrassed.

*****

The Avalanche will play 26 games against Central Division rivals, meeting Chicago and Winnipeg five times each, while playing Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville and St. Louis four times each. The Central is the only NHL division with seven teams.

They’ll play 24 games against Pacific Division teams, meeting each three times. They’ll play 32 games against Eastern Conference teams, one each home and away.

The Avalanche will play 13 afternoon games (5 p.m. MT or earlier) – six at the Pepsi Center -- the most since they had 15 afternoon games in 2002-03.

Stanley Cup champion Washington visits the Pepsi Center on Friday, Nov. 16. The Avalanche play Western Conference champion Vegas twice on home ice -- Feb. 18 and March 27.

Matt Duchene will play his first game in Denver as a visitor when hits town on Friday, Oct. 26.

The Avalanche will be home for a New Year’s Eve game for the sixth consecutive season, taking on Los Angeles on Monday, Dec. 31.

The schedule features 18 weekend games at home: seven on Fridays, 10 on Saturdays and one on Sunday. They’ll play back to back 11 times.

The longest road trip is five games, Jan. 8-16, and the longest homestand is five games Jan. 19-Feb. 5.

Tickets for the preseason and all 41 regular-season home games are on sale now at ColoradoAvalanche.com.

The preseason schedule (all times Mountain Time):

Tue, Sept. 18 – VEGAS, 7 p.m.
Sat, Sept. 22 -- at Minnesota, 4 p.m.
Mon, Sept. 24 -- at Vegas, 8 p.m.
Wed, Sept. 26 – DALLAS, 7 p.m.
Fri, Sept. 28 – MINNESOTA, 7 p.m.
Sun, Sept. 30 -- at Dallas, 4 p.m.

The regular-season schedule (all times MT):

OCTOBER

Thur, Oct. 4 – MINNESOTA, 7 p.m.
Sat, Oct. 6 – PHILADELPHIA, 7 p.m.
Tue, Oct. 9 -- at Columbus, 5 p.m.
Thu, Oct. 11 -- at Buffalo, 5 p.m.
Sat, Oct. 13 – CALGARY, 8 p.m.
Tue, Oct. 16 -- at NY Rangers, 5 p.m.
Thu, Oct. 18 -- at New Jersey, 5 p.m.
Sat, Oct. 20 -- at Carolina, 11 a.m.
Mon, Oct. 22 -- at Philadelphia, 5 p.m.
Wed, Oct. 24 -- TAMPA BAY, 7:30 p.m.
Fri, Oct. 26 – OTTAWA, 7 p.m.
Sat, Oct. 27 -- at Minnesota, 6 p.m.

NOVEMBER

Thu, Nov. 1 -- at Calgary, 7 p.m.
Fri, Nov. 2 -- at Vancouver, 8 p.m.
Wed, Nov. 7 – NASHVILLE, 8 p.m.
Fri, Nov. 9 -- at Winnipeg, 6 p.m.
Sun, Nov. 11 -- at Edmonton, 7:30 p.m.
Wed, Nov. 14 – BOSTON, 8 p.m.
Fri, Nov. 16 – WASHINGTON, 7 p.m.
Sun, Nov. 18 -- at Anaheim, 6 p.m.
Wed, Nov. 21 -- at Los Angeles, 8:30 p.m.
Fri, Nov. 23 -- at Arizona, 6 p.m.
Sat, Nov. 24 – DALLAS, 7 p.m.
Tue, Nov. 27 -- at Nashville, 6 p.m.
Wed, Nov. 28 – PITTSBURGH, 7:30 p.m.
Fri, Nov. 30 -- ST. LOUIS, 7 p.m.

DECEMBER

Sun, Dec. 2 -- at Detroit, 5 p.m.
Tue, Dec. 4 -- at Pittsburgh, 5 p.m.
Thu, Dec. 6 -- at Florida, 5 p.m.
Sat, Dec. 8 -- at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m.
Tue, Dec. 11 – EDMONTON, 7 p.m.
Fri, Dec. 14 -- at St. Louis, 6 p.m.
Sat, Dec. 15 – DALLAS, 7 p.m.
Mon, Dec. 17 -- NY ISLANDERS, 7 p.m.
Wed, Dec. 19 – MONTREAL, 6:30 p.m.
Fri, Dec. 21 – CHICAGO, 7 p.m.
Sat, Dec. 22 -- at Arizona, 5 p.m.
Thu, Dec. 27 -- at Vegas, 8 p.m.
Sat, Dec. 29 – CHICAGO, 7 p.m.
Mon, Dec. 31 -- LOS ANGELES, 6 p.m.

JANUARY

Wed, Jan. 2 -- SAN JOSE, 7:30 p.m.
Fri, Jan. 4 -- NY RANGERS, 7 p.m.
Tue, Jan. 8 -- at Winnipeg, 6 p.m.
Wed, Jan. 9 -- at Calgary, 7:30 p.m.
Sat, Jan. 12 -- at Montreal, 5 p.m.
Mon, Jan. 14 -- at Toronto, 5 p.m.
Wed, Jan. 16 -- at Ottawa, 5 p.m.
Sat, Jan. 19 -- LOS ANGELES, 1 p.m.
Mon, Jan. 21 – NASHVILLE, 1 p.m.
Wed, Jan. 23 – MINNESOTA, 7:30 p.m.

ALL-STAR BREAK / BYE WEEK

FEBRUARY

Sat, Feb. 2 – VANCOUVER, 8 p.m.
Tue, Feb. 5 – COLUMBUS, 7 p.m.
Thu, Feb. 7 -- at Washington, 5 p.m.
Sat, Feb. 9 -- at NY Islanders, 11 a.m.
Sun, Feb. 10 -- at Boston, 1 p.m.
Tue, Feb. 12 – TORONTO, 7 p.m.
Thu, Feb. 14 -- at Winnipeg, 6 p.m.
Sat, Feb. 16 -- ST. LOUIS, 1 p.m.
Mon, Feb. 18 – VEGAS, 7 p.m.
Wed, Feb. 20 – WINNIPEG, 6:30 p.m.
Fri, Feb. 22 -- at Chicago, 5:30 p.m.
Sat, Feb. 23 -- at Nashville, 3:30 p.m.
Mon, Feb. 25 – FLORIDA, 7 p.m.
Wed, Feb. 27 – VANCOUVER, 7:30 p.m.

MARCH

Fri, Mar. 1 -- at San Jose, 8:30 p.m.
Sun, Mar. 3 -- at Anaheim, 2 p.m.
Tue, Mar. 5 – DETROIT, 7 p.m.
Thu, Mar. 7 -- at Dallas, 6:30 p.m.
Sat, Mar. 9 – BUFFALO, 1 p.m.
Mon, Mar. 11 – CAROLINA, 7 p.m.
Fri, Mar. 15 – ANAHEIM, 7 p.m.
Sun, Mar. 17 -- NEW JERSEY, 1 p.m.
Tue, Mar. 19 -- at Minnesota, 6 p.m.
Thu, Mar. 21 – Dallas, 6:30 p.m.
Sat, Mar. 23 – CHICAGO, 1 p.m.
Sun, Mar. 24 -- at Chicago, 6 p.m.
Wed, Mar. 27 – VEGAS, 8 p.m.
Fri, Mar. 29 – ARIZONA, 7 p.m.

APRIL

Mon, Apr. 1 -- at St. Louis, 6 p.m.
Tue, Apr. 2 – EDMONTON, 7 p.m.
Thu, Apr. 4 – WINNIPEG, 7 p.m.
Sat, Apr. 6 -- at San Jose, 8:30 p.m.



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