Vegas Golden Knights to appear dozen times on national TV

The Vegas Golden Knights will be making 12 national television appearances this season across several platforms on American TV, the NHL and the team announced Thursday.

The team’s season opener vs. the expansion Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena will be shown on ESPN. Other home games on the national TV schedule include the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 20 on TNT, Nov. 9 vs. the Kraken on ESPN+/Hulu, Dec. 8 vs. the Dallas Stars on TNT, Feb. 1 vs. the Buffalo Sabres on ESPN+/Hulu, March 3 vs. the Boston Bruins on ESPN, March 17 vs. the Florida Panthers on ESPN+/Hulu, March 26 vs. the Chicago Blackhawks and Marc-Andre Fleury on ABC and April 6 vs. the Vancouver Canucks on TNT.

The nationally televised road games are Oct. 26 at the Colorado Avalanche on ESPN, Dec. 3 at the Arizona Coyotes on ESPN+/Hulu and March 30 at Seattle on TNT.

The four games on ESPN+/Hulu are available via paid subscription only, so be prepared to shell out more money to watch those games if you are not already a subscriber.

As for the other 70 games, AT&T SportsNet will once again be the exclusive carrier for the Golden Knights in the Las Vegas market and other areas in the team’s authorized distribution territory.

The Blackhawks will have already faced the Golden Knights January 8 at T-Mobile Arena so all the Fleury tributes will have long since passed by the time the ABC cameras are turned on.

But several other matchups are exciting, including the Oct. 12 season opener as the Kraken makes its debut. The road game at Colorado will be the first meeting between the Golden Knights and Avalanche since their playoff battle last spring that saw the Knights advance to the semifinals.

Two other games of note on the national TV schedule will be the March 3 game vs. the Bruins, who have former Golden Knights Erik Haula and Tomas Nosek, and the St. Patrick’s Day contest with the Panthers, who are one of the most improved teams in the NHL.

Interestingly, Vancouver is the only Canadian-based franchise on the Golden Knights’ U.S. national TV schedule. And the Knights’ Pacific Division rivals — the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks —are nowhere to be found. Nor is there a game with Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.