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SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Sharks will open their 18th NHL season at HP Pavilion at San Jose on Thursday, Oct. 9 against the Anaheim Ducks. The team will play their first road game on Sunday, Oct. 12 against the Los Angeles Kings. The 2008-09 Sharks schedule consists of 82 games – 41 home and 41 road contests.

The home schedule features 16 weekend contests (15 Saturday and one Sunday). The busiest home weeknight is Thursday (13), followed by Tuesday (11), and Wednesday (two).

The Sharks will play Pacific Division rivals (Anaheim, Dallas, Los Angeles and Phoenix) six times each for a total of 24 games, in addition to playing members of the Western Conference’s Northwest Division (Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Minnesota and Vancouver) and Central Division (Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Nashville and St. Louis) four times each (40 games).

The remaining 18 games in the 82-game schedule will involve each club playing every opponent in the other conference at least once, home or away, with the three remaining games being devoted to interconference “at large” scheduling. Meaning that for the first time in League history the Sharks will play every team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season.

The format represents a change from the matrix approved by the Board for the 2005-06 campaign. That format called for four games (40 total) against each non-division conference opponent, eight games (32 total) against each in-division opponent and 10 inter-conference games.

The Sharks three-way intra-state rivalry continues with the Anaheim Ducks (Oct. 9, Dec. 11, Apr. 4) and the Los Angeles Kings (Oct. 11, Feb.19, Mar. 14) each making three visits to San Jose.

The Sharks longest homestand of the year is five games from Dec. 2-13. There is also a four-game homestand from Jan. 13-Jan. 20. San Jose’s longest road trip is five games from Feb. 7-Feb. 15.

Information on Sharks individual game tickets and a complete broadcast schedule will be released at a later date.

SHARKS SCHEDULE NOTES
Home Games By Day: Sun. – 1, Mon. – 0, Tue. – 11, Wed. – 1, Thu. – 13, Fri. – 0, Sat. – 15
Road Games By Day: Sun. – 7, Mon. – 5, Tue. – 5, Wed. – 6, Thu. – 5, Fri. – 5, Sat. – 8

Home Games By Month: Oct. – 6, Nov. – 7, Dec. – 7, Jan. – 7, Feb. – 4, March – 7, April – 3
Road Games By Month: Oct. – 5, Nov. – 6, Dec. – 6, Jan. – 4, Feb. – 9, March – 8, April – 3

GAMES BY CONFERENCE / DIVISION
Western Conference (64); Pacific Division (24), Central Division (20), Northwest Division (20)
Eastern Conference (18); Atlantic Division (7), Northeast Division (5), Southeast Division (6)

OPPONENTS VISITS TO SAN JOSE (41)
Anaheim – 3, Atlanta – 1, Boston – 0, Buffalo – 0, Calgary – 2, Carolina – 1, Chicago – 2, Colorado – 2, Columbus – 2, Dallas – 3, Detroit – 2, Edmonton – 2, Florida – 0, Los Angeles – 3, Minnesota – 2, Montreal – 0, Nashville – 2, New Jersey – 0, N.Y. Islanders – 1, N.Y. Rangers - 1, Ottawa – 0, Philadelphia – 1, Phoenix – 3, Pittsburgh – 1, St. Louis – 2, Tampa Bay – 1, Toronto – 1, Vancouver – 2, Washington – 1.

SHARKS VISITS TO ROAD CITIES (41)
Anaheim – 3, Atlanta – 0, Boston – 1, Buffalo – 1, Calgary – 2, Carolina – 0, Chicago – 2, Colorado – 2, Columbus – 2, Dallas – 3, Detroit – 2, Edmonton – 2, Florida – 1, Los Angeles – 3, Minnesota – 2, Montreal – 1, Nashville – 2, New Jersey – 1, N.Y. Islanders – 0, N.Y. Rangers – 0, Ottawa – 1, Philadelphia – 1, Phoenix – 3, Pittsburgh – 1, St. Louis – 2, Tampa Bay – 1, Toronto – 0, Vancouver – 2, Washington – 0.

AT THE BREAK
San Jose will play 25 of their 41 home games and 45 of their 82 total games before the All-Star Break on Jan. 24-25. The 57th NHL All-Star Game will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QUE.

Longest Homestand: Five games: Dec. 2 vs. Toronto, Dec. 4 vs. Columbus, Dec. 6 vs. Edmonton, Dec. 11 vs. Anaheim, Dec. 13 vs. St. Louis.

Longest Road Trip: Five games: Feb. 7 at Columbus, Feb. 10 at Boston, Feb. 11 at Pittsburgh, Feb. 13 at Buffalo, Feb. 15 at New Jersey.

BACK-TO-BACK GAMES
Overall: 14 times
Back-to-back at home: 1 time
Back-to-back on road: 8 times
Road game followed by next day home game: 1 time
Home game followed by next day road game: 4 times