Stanley Cup champions the Tampa Bay Lightning are due to host the Chicago Blackhawks in one of five games to open the NHL’s COVID-19-shortened season on Jan. 13.
The league on Wednesday released a first-of-its kind schedule, featuring four realigned divisions based on geography and limited to division play only.
Each team is to play 56 regular-season games, which would be squeezed into what is tentatively scheduled as a 116-day stretch ending on May 8.
Photo: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
It includes an NHL first: An all-Canadian North Division of the nation’s seven teams would play each other nine or 10 times.
The three remaining eight-team divisions have all US teams, which would face each division foe eight times.
Although the playoffs are set to open on May 11, that date could be pushed back in the event the league is required to reschedule games amid the pandemic.
While the schedule is set, much remains undetermined, including game times. A much bigger question is whether the NHL would receive approval from Canada’s provincial and federal health officials to allow the nation’s teams to play in their home cities.
The San Jose Sharks are planning to open training camp on Thursday next week in Scottsdale, Arizona, and their season with two games at the Arizona Coyotes.
Like the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers who are closing out their season at Arizona, the Sharks are temporarily without a home after Santa Clara County banned contact sports through at least Jan. 8.
The NHL took into account the possibility of the ban being extended by having the Sharks open with eight straight road games. Their home opener against Vegas is not scheduled until Feb. 1.
There are numerous quirks in the schedule, which would feature at least one game a day over an 868-game season, and has teams playing mostly two-game sets against the same opponent in the same city to reduce travel.
“The back-to-backs are more like baseball,” Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. “You are going to do a lot of prep and then going to have a very good knowledge of where that team is at after you play that first game.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that