Capitals Announce 2012-13 Regular-Season Schedule
Season begins with a home opener against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 12 at Verizon Center
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals’ 82-game regular-season schedule for 2012-13 begins on Friday, Oct. 12 at Verizon Center versus the New Jersey Devils at 7 p.m., with the first road game of the campaign set for Oct. 13 against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place, the National Hockey League announced today.
The 2012-13 NHL schedule format, like the last four seasons, has the Capitals facing the other teams in the Southeast Division six times each and the remaining Eastern Conference opponents four times each. Washington plays each team in the Western Conference at least once, with two games each against Nashville, Los Angeles and Dallas. Nine Western Conference teams will visit Verizon Center.
The Capitals will host the defending Stanley Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings at Verizon Center on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3, at 12:30 p.m. It will mark the fourth year in a row that the Capitals will play on Super Bowl Sunday.
Washington has four homestands of at least three games on the schedule, the longest being a five-game stretch at Verizon Center from Dec. 11-20 (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Florida and Montreal). The Capitals have six stretches of at least three straight road games and a season-high four-game road trip from Oct. 20-29 (Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary and Minnesota). In addition, the Capitals will have 12 sets of back-to-back games.
Nearly half of the Capitals’ 41 home games at Verizon Center fall on weekends, which include six games each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The schedule features holiday home games on Halloween (Oct. 31 vs. Pittsburgh), the day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 21 vs. Winnipeg), Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 3 vs. Los Angeles) and St. Patrick’s Day (March 17 vs. Buffalo).
All but eight of Washington’s home games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m., with four Sunday afternoon games scheduled.
Television broadcast plans will be released at a later date. All Capitals games can be heard on Caps Radio Network and WashingtonCaps.com.
Key Dates:
Oct. 12 – Home opener at Verizon Center vs. the defending Eastern Conference-champion New Jersey Devils.
Oct. 31 – The Pittsburgh Penguins make their first visit to D.C. of the season.
Nov. 2 – Washington welcomes the Boston Bruins to Verizon Center for the first time since the 2012 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Nov. 16 – The New York Rangers return to Washington for the first time since the 2012 Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Jan. 5 – The Capitals kick off the 2013 home schedule when they host the Chicago Blackhawks at Verizon Center.
Jan. 15 – Washington hosts the defending Presidents’ Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks at Verizon Center.
Feb. 3 – The Capitals host the defending Stanley Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings in an afternoon matinee at Verizon Center on Super Bowl Sunday.
April 13 – Washington concludes the regular-season home schedule at Verizon Center vs. the Southeast Division-rival Tampa Bay Lightning.
2012-13 Washington Capitals Schedule
October
Fri., Oct. 12 New Jersey 7 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 13 at Ottawa 7 p.m.
Mon., Oct. 15 Florida
Wed., Oct. 17 Toronto 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 19 Winnipeg 7 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 20 at Montreal 7 p.m.
Tue., Oct. 23 at Winnipeg 8 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 27 at Calgary 10 p.m.
Mon., Oct. 29 at Minnesota 8 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 31 Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m.
November
Fri., Nov. 2 Boston
Sun., Nov. 4 Dallas
Tue., Nov. 6 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m
Thu., Nov. 8 Edmonton 7 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 10 Toronto 7 p.m.
Wed., Nov. 14 at N.Y. Rangers 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 16 N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 18 Florida
Wed., Nov. 21 Winnipeg 7 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 23 at Dallas 8 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 25 at St. Louis 7 p.m.
Tue., Nov. 27 San Jose 7 p.m.
Thu., Nov. 29 at Florida 7:30 p.m.
December
Sat., Dec. 1 Carolina 7 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 4 at N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m.
Wed., Dec. 5 N.Y. Rangers 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 7 at Detroit 7:30 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 11 Pittsburgh 7 p.m.
Thu., Dec. 13 Philadelphia 7 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 15 Tampa Bay 7 p.m.
Mon., Dec. 17 Florida
Thu., Dec. 20 Montreal 7 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 22 at Boston 1 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 23 Carolina 7 p.m.
Wed., Dec. 26 at Buffalo 7:30 p.m.
Thu., Dec. 27 N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 29 at Nashville 8 p.m.
Mon., Dec. 31 at Pittsburgh 7 p.m.
January
Thu., Jan. 3 at Carolina 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan 5 Chicago 7 p.m.
Mon., Jan. 7 at Toronto 7 p.m.
Wed., Jan. 9 Ottawa
Fri., Jan. 11 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m.
Tue., Jan. 15 Vancouver 7 p.m.
Thu., Jan. 17 at Philadelphia 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 19 at Tampa Bay 7 p.m.
Mon., Jan. 21 at Florida 3 p.m.
Tue., Jan. 22 Ottawa
Tue., Jan. 29 at Ottawa 7:30 p.m.
Thu., Jan. 31 at Toronto 7 p.m.
February
Fri., Feb. 1 Philadelphia 7 p.m.
Sun., Feb. 3 Los Angeles 12:30 p.m.
Tue., Feb. 5 at Florida 7:30 p.m.
Thu., Feb. 7 Tampa Bay 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 9 Nashville 7 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 13 at Anaheim 10 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 15 at Los Angeles 10:30 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 16 at Phoenix 9 p.m.
Thu., Feb. 21 Buffalo
Sat., Feb. 23 at New Jersey 1 p.m.
Tue., Feb. 26 Colorado 7 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 27 at Philadelphia 7:30 p.m.
March
Sat., March 2 at Winnipeg 3 p.m.
Tue., March 5 Columbus 7 p.m.
Thu., March 7 Montreal 7 p.m.
Sat., March 9 at N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m.
Sun., March 10 Boston
Tue., March 12 Winnipeg 7 p.m.
Thu., March 14 at Carolina 7 p.m.
Sat., March 16 at Boston 1 p.m.
Sun., March 17 Buffalo
Tue., March 19 at New Jersey 7 p.m.
Fri., March 22 at Winnipeg 8 p.m.
Sun., March 24 at N.Y. Rangers 7:30 p.m.
Tue., March 26 N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m.
Sat., March 30 at Buffalo 7 p.m.
April
Tue., April 2 at Carolina 7 p.m.
Thu., April 4 at Montreal 7:30 p.m.
Fri., April 5 New Jersey 7 p.m.
Sun., April 7 at Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m.
Thu., April 11 Carolina 7 p.m.
Sat., April 13 Tampa Bay 7 p.m.
All Times Eastern
Washington Capitals Fans are ready for a new season. (Cheryl Nichols/District Sports Page)
