Thursday afternoon, the NHL released its schedules for all 31 NHL teams.

The Capitals will open the season October 5 in Ottawa before having their home opener at Verizon Center on Saturday, October 7 against the Montreal Canadiens. The biggest spectacle of the season will happen on Saturday, March 3 when the Caps play their third outdoor game at the Naval Academy against the Leafs.

The Caps longest homestand of the season is a five-game affair from November 30 through December 8. The team will first play hated-rival Penguins on October 11 at the Phone Booth and the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, December 23.

While the NHL fixed bye weeks so they are taken around the same time, the pacing of the season is once again bizarre.

Via Dump and Chase’s Mike Vogel:

Speaking of breaks, the Caps have a bunch of them early and none of them late in the upcoming season. They’ll have a four-day break in late October, a three-day gap between games that bridges October and November, a four-day break in late November and the three-day holiday break in late December.

Washington’s five-day “bye week” comes in January, but that’s not the only lengthy respite the Caps will have in the first month of 2018. After facing the Hurricanes in Carolina on Jan. 2 to start off the 2018 portion of the 2017-18 schedule, the Caps will have four days off. Then they’ll play four games in six nights before having their bye week.

Next season will mark the Capitals’ 43rd season in the NHL.

OCTOBER
Thu, Oct. 5 at Ottawa 7:30 p.m.
Sat, Oct. 7 Montreal 7 p.m.
Mon, Oct. 9 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m.
Wed, Oct. 11 Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m.
Fri, Oct. 13 at New Jersey 7 p.m.
Sat, Oct. 14 at Philadelphia 7 p.m.
Tue, Oct. 17 Toronto 7 p.m.
Fri, Oct. 20 at Detroit 7:30 p.m.
Sat, Oct. 21 Florida 7 p.m.
Thu, Oct. 26 at Vancouver 10 p.m.
Sat, Oct. 28 at Edmonton 10 p.m.
Sun, Oct. 29 at Calgary 9 p.m.

NOVEMBER
Thu, Nov. 2 NY Islanders 7 p.m.
Sat, Nov. 4 at Boston 7 p.m.
Mon, Nov. 6 Arizona 7 p.m.
Tue, Nov. 7 at Buffalo 7 p.m.
Fri, Nov. 10 Pittsburgh 7 p.m.
Sun, Nov. 12 Edmonton 7 p.m.
Tue, Nov. 14 at Nashville 8 p.m.
Thu, Nov. 16 at Colorado 9 p.m.
Sat, Nov. 18 Minnesota 7:30 p.m.
Mon, Nov. 20 Calgary 7 p.m.
Wed, Nov. 22 Ottawa 7 p.m.
Fri, Nov. 24 Tampa Bay 5 p.m.
Sat, Nov. 25 at Toronto 7 p.m.
Thu, Nov. 30 Los Angeles 7 p.m.

DECEMBER
Sat, Dec. 2 Columbus 7 p.m.
Mon, Dec. 4 San Jose 7 p.m.
Wed, Dec. 6 Chicago 8 p.m.
Fri, Dec. 8 NY Rangers 7 p.m.
Mon, Dec. 11 at NY Islanders 7 p.m.
Tue, Dec. 12 Colorado 7 p.m.
Thu, Dec. 14 at Boston 7 p.m.
Sat, Dec. 16 Anaheim 7:30 p.m.
Tue, Dec. 19 at Dallas 8:30 p.m.
Fri, Dec. 22 at Arizona 9 p.m.
Sat, Dec. 23 at Vegas 8 p.m.
Wed, Dec. 27 at NY Rangers 7 p.m.
Thu, Dec. 28 Boston 7 p.m.
Sat, Dec. 30 New Jersey 7 p.m.

JANUARY
Tue, Jan. 2 at Carolina 7 p.m.
Sun, Jan. 7 St. Louis 3 p.m.
Tue, Jan. 9 Vancouver 7 p.m.
Thu, Jan. 11 Carolina 7 p.m.
Fri, Jan. 12 at Carolina 7:30 p.m.
Thu, Jan. 18 at New Jersey 7 p.m.
Fri, Jan. 19 Montreal 7:30 p.m.
Sun, Jan. 21 Philadelphia 12:30 p.m.
Thu, Jan. 25 at Florida 7:30 p.m.
Wed, Jan. 31 Philadelphia 8 p.m.

FEBRUARY
Fri, Feb. 2 at Pittsburgh 7 p.m.
Sun, Feb. 4 Vegas 12:30 p.m.
Tue, Feb. 6 at Columbus 7 p.m.
Fri, Feb. 9 Columbus 7 p.m.
Sun, Feb. 11 Detroit 3 p.m.
Tue, Feb. 13 at Winnipeg 8 p.m.
Thu, Feb. 15 at Minnesota 8 p.m.
Sat, Feb. 17 at Chicago 8:30 p.m.
Mon, Feb. 19 at Buffalo 3 p.m.
Tue, Feb. 20 Tampa Bay 7 p.m.
Thu, Feb. 22 at Florida 7:30 p.m.
Sat, Feb. 24 Buffalo 7 p.m.
Mon, Feb. 26 at Columbus 7 p.m.
Tue, Feb. 27 Ottawa 7 p.m.

MARCH
Sat, March 3 Toronto 8 p.m.
Tue, March 6 at Anaheim 10 p.m.
Thu, March 8 at Los Angeles 10:30 p.m.
Sat, March 10 at San Jose 4 p.m.
Mon, March 12 Winnipeg 7 p.m.
Thu, March 15 at NY Islanders 7 p.m.
Fri, March 16 NY Islanders 7 p.m.
Sun, March 18 at Philadelphia 5 p.m.
Tue, March 20 Dallas 7 p.m.
Thu, March 22 at Detroit 7:30 p.m.
Sat, March 24 at Montreal 7 p.m.
Mon, March 26 at NY Rangers 7 p.m.
Wed, March 28 NY Rangers 8 p.m.
Fri, March 30 Carolina 7 p.m.

APRIL
Sun, April 1 at Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m.
Mon, April 2 at St. Louis 8 p.m.
Thu, April 5 Nashville 7 p.m.
Sat, April 7 New Jersey 7 p.m.

More from the Capitals:

The National Hockey League today announced the 2017-18 regular-season schedule for its 31 member clubs. The Washington Capitals will open the season against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday, Oct. 5, with the first home game of the campaign set for Saturday, Oct. 7, against the Montreal Canadiens at 7 p.m. at Verizon Center.

The Capitals will host the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2018 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series on March 3 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. The NHL will pause for the 2018 NHL All-Star Game, which will be held on Jan. 27-28 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. In addition, the Capitals schedule will pause for a five-day break from Jan. 13-17.

Washington has three homestands of at least three games on the schedule, the longest being a five-game stretch at Verizon Center from Nov. 30 to Dec. 8. The Capitals have five stretches of at least three consecutive road games, including two four-game road trips. In addition, the Capitals will have 14 sets of back-to-back games.

Over half of the Capitals’ 40 home games at Verizon Center fall on weekends, which includes seven games on Friday, nine on Saturday and five on Sunday. The schedule features holiday home games on Veterans Day (Nov. 10 vs. Pittsburgh), the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 24 vs. Tampa Bay) and Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 4 vs. Las Vegas). This marks the 11th time in the last 12 seasons and the 10th consecutive season the Capitals will host a game on Super Bowl Sunday.

Television broadcast plans will be released at a later date. All Capitals games can be heard on the Caps Radio Network, Caps Radio 24/7, WashingtonCaps.com and on the Washington Caps mobile app.

Home dates to remember:

Oct. 7 – Home opener at Verizon Center against the Montreal Canadiens
Oct. 11 – The Capitals host the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins at Verizon Center
Oct. 17 – Washington faces the Maple Leafs for the first time since eliminating Toronto in the 2017 ECQF
Nov. 10 – The Capitals play Pittsburgh at Verizon Center on Veterans Day
Nov. 24 – Washington hosts Tampa Bay on the day after Thanksgiving
Dec. 8 – The New York Rangers make their first of two visits to Verizon Center
Feb. 4 – Washington hosts Las Vegas for the first time in franchise history on Super Bowl Sunday
March 3 – The Capitals host the Maple Leafs in the 2018 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md.
April 5 – Washington faces the Western Conference champion Nashville Predators at Verizon Center
April 7 – The Capitals conclude their 2017-18 regular-season schedule at home against New Jersey

More from the NHL:

The NHL’s 2017-18 regular season will commence Wednesday, Oct. 4, with a four-game slate, highlighted by the Pittsburgh Penguins raising their fifth Stanley Cup championship banner before facing the St. Louis Blues at PPG Paints Arena. The 1,271-game regular-season schedule – 82 games per team – will conclude Saturday, April 7, 2018.

The other three games on the first night of the 2017-18 season include the Toronto Maple Leafs visiting the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place; the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Calgary Flames in a Battle of Alberta at Rogers Place; and the San Jose Sharks playing host to the Philadelphia Flyers at SAP Center.

After closing Joe Louis Arena last season, the Detroit Red Wings will open their new home, Little Caesar’s Arena, on Thursday, Oct. 5 against the Minnesota Wild.

The NHL’s 31st franchise, the Vegas Golden Knights, will play its first regular-season game on Friday, Oct. 6 against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center. The Golden Knights will play their first home game on Tuesday, Oct. 10 when they play host to the Arizona Coyotes at T-Mobile Arena.

The Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators will face off in a pair of regular-season games in Stockholm, Sweden on Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11 at Ericsson Globe in the 2017 SAP NHL Global Series™, marking the sixth time the NHL has traveled to Europe to play regular-season games and the first such time since the 2011 Compuware NHL Premiere™.

On Saturday, Dec. 16, the 2017 Scotiabank NHL100 Classic™ will feature the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens outdoors at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. The game will pay tribute to a century of NHL® contests, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the League’s first games played on Dec. 19, 1917. The game falls within the League’s year-long NHL® Centennial festivities, Canada’s celebrations of 150 years of Confederation, and the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup®.

On New Year’s Day, the 2018 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic® will feature the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers outdoors at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. This year’s edition will mark the 10-year anniversary of the first NHL Winter Classic®, which continues the tradition the League established in 2008 of hosting a regular-season outdoor game at the onset of the new year.

The League’s regular-season schedule will pause from Jan. 26-29 so the world’s top players can gather in Tampa for the 2018 NHL All-Star weekend at Amalie Arena, which will include the NHL All-Star Skills Competition™ and the NHL All-Star Game. The 2018 NHL All-Star returns to a 3-on-3 tournament format after successful games in Nashville (2016) and Los Angeles (2017). Under the tournament rules, the NHL All-Star Game will be divided into three 20-minute games, with star players from each NHL division making up the four All-Star teams: Pacific, Central, Atlantic, and Metropolitan.

On Saturday, March 3, the Washington Capitals will play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs outdoors at the 2018 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series™ at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. Over the next several years, the League plans to stage a series of outdoor games at the venues of the other respective U.S. Service Academies.

The 2017-18 regular season will conclude Saturday, April 7, when 30 of the League’s 31 teams take to the ice.

Reminder: Scheduling Matrix
The scheduling matrix ensures that all 31 teams play in all 31 arenas at least once each season:
The following notes show the opponents by team (totaling 41 home / 41 away per team), based on each team’s respective division and conference.

Eastern Conference (Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions – 8 Teams each)
Each Division has 8 teams
Within Division
7 teams x 2 home / 2 away (Subtotal 14 home / 14 away)
Within Conference (Non-Division)
4 teams x 2 home / 1 away (Subtotal 8 home / 4 away)
4 teams x 1 home / 2 away (Subtotal 4 home / 8 away)
Non-Conference
15 teams x 1 home / 1 away (Subtotal 15 home / 15 away)
Grand Total 41 home / 41 away

Western Conference (Central Division – 7 teams)
Within Division
4 teams x 2 home / 2 away (Subtotal 8 home / 8 away)
1 team x 3 home / 2 away (Subtotal 3 home / 2 away)
1 team x 2 home / 3 away (Subtotal 2 away / 3 home)
Within Conference (Non-Division)
4 teams x 2 home / 1 away (Subtotal 8 home / 4 away)
4 teams x 1 home / 2 away (Subtotal 4 home / 8 away)
Non-Conference
16 teams x 1 home / 1 away (Subtotal 16 home / 16 away)
Grand Total 41 home / 41 away

Western Conference (Pacific Division – 8 teams)
A. 4 of the 8 teams in Pacific Division

Within Division
6 teams x 2 home / 2 away (Subtotal 12 home / 12 away)
1 team x 3 home / 2 away (Subtotal 3 home / 2 away)
Within Conference (Non-Division)
3 teams x 2 home / 1 away (Subtotal 6 home / 3 away)
4 teams x 1 home / 2 away (Subtotal 4 home / 8 away)
Non-Conference
16 teams x 1 home / 1 away (Subtotal 16 home / 16 away)
Grand Total 41 home / 41 away
B. 4 of the 8 teams in Pacific Division

Within Division
6 teams x 2 home / 2 away (Subtotal 12 home / 12 away)
1 team x 2 home / 3 away (Subtotal 2 home / 3 away)
Within Conference (Non-Division)
4 teams x 2 home / 1 away (Subtotal 8 home / 4 away)
3 teams x 1 home / 2 away (Subtotal 3 home / 6 away)
Non-Conference
16 teams x 1 home / 1 away (Subtotal 16 home / 16 away)
Grand Total 41 home / 41 away

Schedule Notes
Regular Season Opens: Wednesday, Oct. 4
Christmas Break: Sunday, Dec. 24 – Tuesday, Dec. 26
All-Star Break: Friday, Jan. 26 – Monday, Jan. 29
Last Day of Regular Season: Saturday, April 7

Headline photo: @Capitals