The Vegas Golden Knights will host the Chicago Blackhawks for their 2026-27 home opener at The Fortress on Tuesday, September 29, 2026. This season will mark the 10th home opener in franchise history, and as expected, they are 7-1-1 in those contests.
Interestingly, this is the second time the Golden Knights will welcome the Blackhawks to T-Mobile Arena to begin their home schedule, following an October 13, 2022, clash that Vegas won 1-0. As of 2026, Chicago remains the only Original Six team to do so.
Meanwhile, the Blackhawks become the second team to play the Golden Knights twice in a home opener, following the Seattle Kraken in 2021 and 2023. Today, we take a look at the previous nine Vegas home openers and discuss the abundance of successes in those contests.
Revisiting the Golden Knights' first home opener on October 10, 2017
The Golden Knights’ path to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final began with road victories in Dallas (Stars) and Arizona (Coyotes), before opening up The Fortress against the Coyotes, where they picked up a 5-2 win to improve to 3-0-0.
Tomáš Nosek tallied the first home goal in team history at 2:31 of the first period, while James Neal had two goals and Brendan Leipsic had two helpers. William Carrier recorded the first penalty for a hooking call, and between the pipes, Marc-Andre Fleury earned the win, with 31 saves.
According to the game sheet, 18,191 people were in attendance to welcome the Golden Knights to their new home. One year later, on October 4, 2018, Vegas would lose its first home opener, dropping a 5-2 contest to the Philadelphia Flyers, the only Eastern Conference team ever to kick off the home schedule at T-Mobile Arena. Despite going up 1-0 with a Jonathan Marchessault goal, the Flyers scored the next five to chase Fleury, who finished his night with a .688 SV%.
Vegas goes on a six-game home opener winning streak (2019-2024)
On October 2, 2019, the Golden Knights welcomed the San Jose Sharks to town and defeated them 4-1 in front of 18,588 fans. Backed by Fleury’s 21 saves (.955 SV%) and multi-point efforts from William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, and Mark Stone, Vegas cruised to victory, sweeping the Sharks in a home-and-home series to begin the 2019-20 campaign.
As the NHL realigned the divisions for the 2020-21 season for the shortened COVID campaign, the Golden Knights drew the Anaheim Ducks in the first two games of the year and earned a 5-2 victory in their home opener on January 14, 2021. Once again, Marchessault had the first home goal of the season, just 1:07 into the game.
Robin Lehner earned his first home-opener victory, while Alex Martinez and Stone had two points in an empty T-Mobile Arena.
When the schedule and divisions returned to normal in 2021-22, Vegas welcomed its expansion cousin, the Seattle Kraken, to The Fortress for its first-ever NHL game on October 12, 2021. In front of 18,431 fans, the Golden Knights welcomed the Kraken to the league by defeating them 4-3. Max Pacioretty scored the first goal, beating Marchessault, who also had a first-period lamplighter.
Lehner improved to 2-0 in home openers with the Golden Knights, making 28 saves, while Pacioretty and Stone became the first players in team history with three points in the first home contest of the year.
En route to a Stanley Cup title at the end of the 2022-23 season, Vegas shut out the Blackhawks 1-0 on October 13, 2022, extending their home winning streak to four. Paul Cotter was the hero of the night with his second-period goal at 8:44, the only one in the contest, while Logan Thompson sent the 18,467 fans home happy with his 27-save shutout.
On October 10, 2023, the Kraken returned to town for another home opener, this time to watch the Golden Knights raise their Stanley Cup banner, before walking away again without a win, losing 4-1 in front of 18,724 Vegas fans. Chandler Stephenson scored the season’s first goal, while Marchessault had yet another first-period goal in a home opener to give Vegas a 2-0 lead.
Stone and Chandler each had two points, while Adin Hill became the latest netminder to pick up a home-opener win, turning away 32 of 33 shots for a .970 SV%. To preserve their six-game home opener winning streak, the Golden Knights needed eight goals to defeat the Colorado Avalanche, 8-4, on October 9, 2024. For the first time, Vegas surrendered the first goal in a home game to a visitor, this time to Mikko Rantanen, before jumping out to a 3-1 lead.
Eventually, the Golden Knights chased Alexandar Georgiev, thanks to a four-point night from Ivan Barbashev and Jack Eichel. Moreover, Stone and Shea Theodore each had three points, while Victor Olofsson had two. Overall, 12 players found their names on the scoresheet, and Hill somehow picked up a win with an .875 SV%.
Golden Knights finally lose a home opener (again) on October 8, 2025
Last season, the Los Angeles Kings came to T-Mobile Arena and jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Pavel Dorofeyev had the first Vegas goal of the season. Interestingly, he became the first player in team history to record a hat trick in a home opener, scoring three goals in the second period.
Despite Dorofeyev’s efforts, which included the only Vegas goal in the shootout, they were not enough as the home team lost when Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore beat Hill to win the shootout and give the visiting Kings a rare victory in The Fortress.
In the crease, Hill became only the second goalie besides Fleury to lose a home opener, posting an .808 SV% in the loss. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights offense came from just five players: Eichel (four points), Dorofeyev (three), Barbashev (two), Stone (two), and Mitch Marner (two).
Overall, Vegas is already a difficult town to play in, and given the Golden Knights' success in home openers, there's an extra layer of dread when teams look at their schedules.
Interestingly, given their 7-1-1 record at T-Mobile Arena in the first home game of the season, there hasn’t been a single fight in any of those contests. When will someone step up and drop the gloves on opening night?
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