New York Rangers Announce 2017-18 Schedule
With the expansion draft now in the rear view mirror, the New York Rangers have officially announced their schedule for the upcoming 2017-2018 regular season. The full schedule can be found on the Rangers website.
We already knew about the home opener against the Colorado Avalanche, which was announced yesterday afternoon. The Rangers will play 10 of their first 13 games at home, with the away games being against the Toronto Maple Leafs (Oct. 7), Columbus Blue Jackets (Oct. 13) and the Montreal Canadiens (Oct. 28).
The Vegas Golden Knights will make their first ever appearance at Madison Square Garden on October 31, while the Rangers first trip to Vegas will be on January 7. The most notable matchup on the schedule is the January 1 meeting with the Buffalo Sabres for the 2018 Winter Classic. As we all expected, the Rangers will be considered the visiting team at Citi Field, with the Rangers being unable to host home games outside of MSG.
The Rangers will also only have 11 sets of back-to-back games this season, which is considered the fewest among all of the Eastern Conference teams. To close out their regular season, the Rangers will face Metropolitan Divison teams in 10 of the final 13 games, which should make for an exciting finish with playoff implications potentially on the line.