Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The NHL released the 2021-22 regular-season schedule on Thursday evening. The Washington Capitals will open their slate on Wednesday, October 13 against the New York Rangers at Capital One Arena, which can be seen on ESPN. Their first road game will be on Thursday, October 21 against the New Jersey Devils. No times have been announced yet.

Here is the full schedule:

On opening night, ESPN will show the defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning raise their banner and host the Pittsburgh Penguins before televising the Kraken visiting the Golden Knights for their first game in franchise history.

A few notes:

• Longest Homestand: Four from Thurs 12/2-Fri 12/10 (Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Anaheim Ducks, Pittsburgh Penguins)
• Longest Road Trip: Five from Thurs 4/14-Fri 4/22 (Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, Arizona Coyotes)
• 10 Back-to-Backs
• NHL All-Star Weekend will take place from February 4-5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Winter Olympic Break: Thursday, February 3-Tuesday, February 22
• Last Game of Regular-Season: Friday, April 29 at Rangers
• First Games against 32nd expansion franchise Seattle Kraken: Sunday 11/21 at SEA, Saturday 3/5 at WSH
• TNT will broadcast Wednesday night national games
• There are placeholders for international games

By Harrison Brown

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