Carolina Hurricanes 2019-20 regular season schedule released

Last Friday we learned that the Carolina Hurricanes will open the 2019-20 season on home ice against the Montreal Canadiens October 3, then follow that up with game two 48 hours later as the guests of honor at the Washington Capitals’ home opener. On Tuesday, the NHL announced how the Hurricanes’ other 80 games will break down.

The full Hurricanes regular season schedule is posted at the end of the article, and is now available on Hurricanes.com. Here are a few highlights of the Canes’ 20th anniversary season at PNC Arena:

• This is not a drill: THE CANES PLAY A SATURDAY NIGHT GAME IN VEGAS. Saturday, February 8, to be exact. Book your flights now.
• The State Fair is a week later than usual this year, which gives the Canes a chance to play four home games before the fair rolls in. Like last year, they will play a Saturday game during the Fair; this year’s game is a 1:00 matchup against the Blackhawks on the penultimate day of the Fair.
• Friday games are again at 7:30 this season. All other home games start at 7:00.
• The Canes again get to play Toronto in their annual midafternoon weekday game. This year’s edition is three days before Christmas at 2:00. The last time they played in that game, Scott Darling gave up eight goals. What could go wrong?
• As usual, the division schedule is kooky. The three games against the Capitals that are not the second game of the season all come in a two-week span in late December and early January, including both of the Caps’ visits to Raleigh within just six days: December 28 and January 3. Then the season series is over on January 13.
• Meanwhile, the Canes won’t see the Penguins until after the trade deadline (!), then they play each other four times in the final month of the season. No, I don’t get it either.
• Between those two Caps games, the Canes will again host the Canadiens on New Year’s Eve.
• Twenty-seven of the Canes’ 41 home games are on weekends. They play 16 back to back sets, one fewer than last season.
• The longest homestand is a seven-game from December 28-January 11. Their longest road trip? A six-gamer in early March.

What are you looking most forward to in the 2019-20 season?