The NHL confirmed its participation in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games yesterday, thus allowing for release of the 2013-14 schedule that will feature a long opening road trip for the Rangers consisting of nine games prior to the club’s Garden debut on Oct. 28 against Montreal.
The season-opening trek, which commences in Phoenix on Oct. 3, features a hopscotch across the continent while the final phase of the Garden renovation concludes.
The Blueshirts, who will play two outdoor games at Yankee Stadium — against the Devils on Jan. 26 and against the Islanders Jan. 29 — have a nine-game homestand in December.
John Tortorella, fired as Rangers coach following the club’s second-round playoff elimination by the Bruins, will make his return to New York as coach of the Canucks on Nov. 30.
Alain Vigneault, who traded places with Tortorella, will lead the Blueshirts into Vancouver on
April 1 during the club’s late-season trip through western Canada.
The NHL will break from Feb. 9-25 in order to accommodate the Olympic tournament, which will be contested from Feb. 12-23. The Rangers will be off from Feb. 8-26.
Canada is the defending gold medalist, having beaten the USA, 3-2, on Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal in the 2010 final in Vancouver.
The Islanders open their season on the road, sort of, in Newark against the Devils on Oct. 4. The Isles then will play eight of their next 11 games at the Nassau Coliseum, the crumbling building on Long Island that is set to be their home until the 2014-15 season, when they will move to Barclays Center in Brooklyn. On Oct. 25, they will head to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins and renew the dislike that began to brew during last season’s first-round, six-game playoff loss.
The Devils will open their season the night before that game against the Islanders, playing in Pittsburgh on Oct. 3. Immediately after the Islanders game, they get their western-Canada trip out of the way, heading to Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg, finishing up in Ottawa on Oct. 13.
All three New York-area teams will be part of the newly named “Metropolitan Division,” the only one of the four new (larger) divisions with a new name. The teams joining them are the Capitals, Penguins, Flyers, Hurricanes and Blue Jackets.
The new Atlantic Division is headlined by the Red Wings’ move east, where they will be joined by the Bruins, Sabres, Panthers, Canadiens, Senators, Lightning and Maple Leafs
Out west, the Central Division will be the Blackhawks, Blues, Predators, Wild, Avalanche, Stars and Jets. The Pacific Division will be the Kings, Ducks, Coyotes, Sharks, Canucks, Flames and Oilers.