Schedule for Golden Knights’ Western Conference Final released

Las Vegas Review-Journal

7 years ago

Vegas Golden Knights celebrate their 3-0 win against San Jose Sharks in Game 6 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, May 6, 2018. Vegas Golden Knights won the series to advance to the next round. Erik Verduzco Las Vegas Review-Journal @Erik_Verduzco

Golden Knights fans celebrate a goal by Alex Tuch, not pictured, during the second period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey second-round playoff series against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, May 4, 2018. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto

The Golden Knights know when they’re playing again. They just don’t know where.

The Knights will open the Western Conference finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs at 4 p.m. Saturday at Nashville or Winnipeg, the NHL announced Tuesday. Winnipeg plays at Nashville at 5 p.m. Thursday in Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Game 2 is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday at Nashville or Winnipeg. The series then moves to T-Mobile Arena for Game 3 at 6 p.m. May 16 and Game 4 at 5 p.m. May 18.

The rest of the schedule in the seven-game series are “if necessary” games. Game 5 would be at noon May 20 at Nashville or Winnipeg. Game 6 would be at 6 p.m. May 22 at T-Mobile. Game 7 would be at 5 p.m. May 24 at Nashville or Winnipeg.

Games 1 and 5 will be televised on the Las Vegas NBC affiliate KSNV-3, and the rest of the games will be shown on NBCSN.

“I hope it goes three overtimes (Thursday),” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said Tuesday when asked which team he preferred to face. “We’re focusing on ourselves right now. Once we know who we’re playing, we’ll shift our attention to that team.

“They both present a great deal of challenges. They’re both great hockey teams. They both finished with a lot of points, and they both finished at the top of the standings. We’ll see what happens.”

The Knights had success against the Jets and Predators, going 2-1 against each team. They won at Winnipeg and at Nashville, beating the Jets 3-2 in overtime Feb. 1 and defeating Nashville 4-3 in a shootout Dec. 8.

Gallant didn’t seem concerned about opening on the road after having home-ice advantage against the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks in the first two rounds.

“It doesn’t matter a whole lot,” he said. “We have showed we can play on the road at both places. We’ll get on a flight Friday morning and go somewhere.”

The Eastern Conference finals between Washington and Tampa Bay begins Friday in Tampa, Florida.

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Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.