SAINT PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Wild's 2017-18 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season schedule was released today. The Wild opens the season on Thursday, Oct. 5, in Detroit at 6:30 p.m. CT, marking the first NHL regular season game played at the new Little Caesars Arena. Minnesota will also visit Carolina and Chicago before the Wild home opener at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday, Oct. 14, hosting Columbus at 7 p.m. CT. The Wild will play 14 of its first 21 games against Eastern Conference opponents, including eight road games against the East.

The 2017-18 schedule consists of 82 games - 41 at Xcel Energy Center and 41 road contests. The Wild's home schedule features 17 weekend games (three on Friday, 10 on Saturday and four on Sunday). Most evening games at Xcel Energy Center will begin at 7 p.m.

Minnesota will play 26 games against Central Division opponents, including four games each (two home, two road) against Colorado, Dallas, St. Louis and Winnipeg. The Wild will play five games against Chicago (two home, three road) and Nashville (three home, two road).

The Wild will also play three games against each team in the Pacific Division: Anaheim (one home, two road), Arizona (one home, two road), Calgary (two home, one road), Edmonton (two home, one road), Los Angeles (one home, two road), San Jose (one home, two road), Vancouver (two home, one road) and Vegas (two home, one road). The first-ever game between Minnesota and Vegas will take place at Xcel Energy Center on Nov. 30, with Vegas again visiting Saint Paul on Feb. 2. Minnesota will play its first-ever game in Las Vegas on March 16.

Minnesota will play each team in the Eastern Conference twice (one home, one road) for a total of 32 contests. Popular Eastern Conference visits to Xcel Energy Center include defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh (Oct. 28), Detroit (March 4), New York Rangers (Feb. 13), Montreal (Nov. 2), and Washington (Feb. 15).The 2018 NHL All-Star Game will take place on Jan. 28 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.

The on-sale date and pricing for Minnesota Wild regular season tickets will be announced at a later date.

2017-18 MINNESOTA WILD SCHEDULE NOTES

Home Games by Day: Mon. - 4, Tue. - 10, Wed. - 1, Thur. - 9, Fri. - 3, Sat. - 10, Sun. - 4
Road Games by Day: Mon. - 3, Tue. - 5, Wed. - 4, Thur. - 7, Fri. - 7, Sat. - 13, Sun. - 2

Home Games by Month: Oct. - 5, Nov. - 7, Dec. - 6, Jan. - 7, Feb. - 8, March - 7, April - 1

Road Games by Month: Oct. - 5, Nov. - 8, Dec. - 8, Jan. - 4, Feb. - 5, March - 8, April - 3

Games by Conference/Division

Western Conference: Central Division (26 games), Pacific Division (24 games)

Eastern Conference: Metropolitan Division (16 games), Atlantic Division (16 games)

Opponents Visits To Minnesota (41): Anaheim-1, Arizona-1, Boston-1, Buffalo-1, Calgary-2, Carolina-1,Chicago-2, Colorado-2, Columbus-1, Dallas-2, Detroit-1, Edmonton-2, Florida-1, Los Angeles-1, Montreal-1, Nashville-3, New Jersey-1, New York Islanders-1, New York Rangers-1, Ottawa-1, Philadelphia-1, Pittsburgh-1, St. Louis-2, San Jose-1,Tampa Bay-1, Toronto-1, Vancouver-2, Vegas-2, Washington-1,Winnipeg-2

Wild Visits To Road Cities (41): Anaheim-2,Arizona-2, Boston-1, Buffalo-1, Calgary-1,Carolina-1,Chicago-3,Colorado-2, Columbus-1, Dallas-2, Detroit-1, Edmonton-1,Florida-1, Los Angeles-2, Montreal-1, Nashville-2,New Jersey-1, New York Islanders-1, New York Rangers-1, Ottawa-1, Philadelphia-1, Pittsburgh-1, St. Louis-2, San Jose-2, Tampa Bay-1, Toronto-1, Vancouver-1, Vegas-1, Washington-1, Winnipeg-2

After NHL All-Star Game (Jan. 28) - Minnesota will have 33 games remaining on its schedule, including 16 home games and 17 road contests. The Wild will play 14 games against the Pacific Division and 10 contests versus the Central Division in the Western Conference, with nine games against Eastern Conference opponents.

Longest Homestand: 6 games

Oct. 24-Nov. 4 vs. Vancouver, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Montreal and Chicago

Longest Road Trip: 4 games

Nov. 6-11 at Boston, Toronto, Montreal and Philadelphia

Dec. 17-23 at Chicago, Ottawa, Florida and Tampa Bay

Back-To-Back Games: 15 sets - the Wild had 14 sets of back-to-back contests in 2016-17.
Back-to-back on road: 8

Back-to-back at home: 2

Home game followed by road game next day: 5

Road game followed by home game next day: 0

Five-day Bye Week: Jan. 15-19

Length of Wild's 2017-18 Season: 185 days (Oct. 5-April 7).The 2016-17 season lasted 178 days.

Air miles: The Wild will travel an estimated 44,783 air miles during the 2017-18 season. Minnesota logged 41,441 air miles during the 2016-17 season.

2017-18 MINNESOTA WILD SCHEDULE

Dates and times subject to change

DAY DATE OPPONENT TIME (CT)

SEPTEMBER PRESEASON

Mon. 18 at Winnipeg 7:00 p.m.

THUR. 21 WINNIPEG 7:00 P.M.

SAT. 23 COLORADO 5:00 P.M.

Sun. 24 at Colorado 6:00 p.m.

Tue. 26 at Dallas 7:30 p.m.

Thur. 28 at St. Louis 7:00 p.m.

SAT. 30 DALLAS 7:00 P.M.

OCTOBER REGULAR SEASON

Thur. 5 at Detroit 6:30 p.m.

Sat. 7 at Carolina 6:00 p.m.

Thur. 12 at Chicago 7:30 p.m.

SAT. 14 COLUMBUS 7:00 P.M.

Fri. 20 at Winnipeg 7:00 p.m.

Sat. 21 at Calgary 9:00 p.m.

TUE. 24 VANCOUVER 7:00 P.M.

THUR. 26 N.Y. ISLANDERS 7:00 P.M.

SAT. 28 PITTSBURGH 7:00 P.M.

TUE. 31 WINNIPEG 7:00 P.M.

NOVEMBER

THUR. 2 MONTREAL 7:00 P.M.

SAT. 4 CHICAGO 7:00 P.M.

Mon. 6 at Boston 6:00 p.m.

Wed. 8 at Toronto 6:30 p.m.

Thur. 9 at Montreal 6:30 p.m.

Sat. 11 at Philadelphia 6:00 p.m.

TUE. 14 PHILADELPHIA 7:00 P.M.

THUR.16 NASHVILLE 7:00 P.M.

Sat. 18 at Washington 6:30 p.m.

MON. 20 NEW JERSEY 7:00 P.M.

Wed. 22 at Buffalo 6:00 p.m.

FRI. 24 COLORADO 3:00 P.M.

Sat. 25 at St. Louis 7:00 p.m.

Mon. 27 at Winnipeg 7:00 p.m.

THUR. 30 VEGAS 7:00 P.M.

DECEMBER

SAT. 2 ST. LOUIS 5:00 P.M.

Tue. 5 at Los Angeles 9:30 p.m.

Fri. 8 at Anaheim 9:00 p.m.

Sun. 10 at San Jose 8:00 p.m.

TUE. 12 CALGARY 7:00 P.M.

THUR. 14 TORONTO 7:00 P.M.

SAT. 16 EDMONTON 1:00 P.M.

Sun. 17 at Chicago 6:00 p.m.

Tue. 19 at Ottawa 6:30 p.m.

Fri. 22 at Florida 6:30 p.m.

Sat. 23 at Tampa Bay 6:00 p.m.

WED. 27 DALLAS 7:00 P.M.

FRI. 29 NASHVILLE 7:00 P.M.

Sat. 30 at Nashville 7:00 p.m.

JANUARY

TUE. 2 FLORIDA 7:00 P.M.

THUR. 4 BUFFALO 7:00 P.M.

Sat. 6 at Colorado 2:00 p.m.

TUE. 9 CALGARY 7:00 P.M.

Wed. 10 at Chicago 7:00 p.m.

SAT. 13 WINNIPEG 6:00 P.M.

SUN. 14 VANCOUVER 6:00 P.M.

SAT. 20 TAMPA BAY 8:00 P.M.

MON. 22 OTTAWA 7:00 P.M.

Thur. 25 at Pittsburgh 6:00 p.m.

Sun. 28 2018 NHL All-Star Game (Tampa Bay) TBD

Tue. 30 at Columbus 6:00 p.m.

FEBRUARY

FRI. 2 VEGAS 7:00 P.M.

Sat. 3 at Dallas 7:00 p.m.

Tue. 6 at St. Louis 7:00 p.m.

THUR. 8 ARIZONA 7:00 P.M.

SAT. 10 CHICAGO 7:00 P.M.

TUE. 13 N.Y. RANGERS 7:00 P.M.

THUR. 15 WASHINGTON 7:00 P.M.

SAT. 17 ANAHEIM 1:00 P.M.

Mon. 19 at N.Y. Islanders 12:00 p.m.

Thur. 22 at New Jersey 6:00 p.m.

Fri. 23 at N.Y. Rangers 6:00 p.m.

SUN. 25 SAN JOSE 7:00 P.M.

TUE. 27 ST. LOUIS 7:00 P.M.

MARCH

Thur. 1 at Arizona 8:00 p.m.

Fri. 2 at Colorado 8:00 p.m.

SUN. 4 DETROIT 6:30 P.M.

TUE. 6 CAROLINA 7:00 P.M.

Fri. 9 at Vancouver 9:00 p.m.

Sat. 10 at Edmonton 9:00 p.m.

TUE. 13 COLORADO 7:00 P.M.

Fri.16 at Vegas 9:30 p.m.

Sat. 17 at Arizona 8:00 p.m.

MON 19 LOS ANGELES 7:00 P.M.

SAT 24 NASHVILLE 7:00 P.M.

SUN. 25 BOSTON 6:30 P.M.

Tue. 27 at Nashville 7:00 p.m.

THUR. 29 DALLAS 7:00 P.M.

Sat. 31 at Dallas 7:00 p.m.

APRIL

MON. 2 EDMONTON 7:00 P.M.

Wed. 4 at Anaheim 9:00 p.m.

Thur. 5 at Los Angeles 9:30 p.m.

Sat. 7 at San Jose 9:30 p.m.

For information about Minnesota Wild Season Tickets or to join the Wild Warming House, the only way to secure future season tickets, visit tickets.wild.com or contact a Wild Ticket Sales Representative at 651-222-WILD.