LOS ANGELES, CA - The Los Angeles Kings, the 2012 Stanley Cup Champions and parent club of the Manchester Monarchs, will open the 48-game 2012-13 NHL season and raise their first Stanley Cup championship banner in franchise history on Saturday, January 19 vs. the Chicago Blackhawks, with game-time set for a noon (PST) start.

All of the 48 regular season games will be played against Western Conference opponents.  Of the 48 games, 18 will be played within the Pacific Division and 30 will be played within the Central and Northwest divisions.  The Kings will play each divisional opponent either four or five times, and all other Western Conference opponents three times each.

In the Pacific Division the Kings will play the Dallas Stars (three home, two road) and Phoenix Coyotes (two home, three road) five times each.  The Kings will play the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks four times each (two home, two road).  The Kings will play all of the other Western Conference teams either once or twice at home or on the road.

The Kings will play 11 of their first 15 games on the road (January 19 to February 20) before then playing a stretch of 13-of-16 at home (February 23 to March 23).  Of the final 17 games, 10 will be on the road (March 25 to April 27).

The longest homestand of the season is five games (March 4-11 and March 16-23).  The longest road trip of the season is also five games (February 2-11 and March 25-April 2).

The Kings are slated to play eight sets of back-to-backs (February 10-11, February 19-20, March 4-5, March 11-12, March 18-19, March 30-31, April 6-7 and April 23-24).

Last season the Kings sold out STAPLES Center 37 of 39 regular season home dates – and all nine postseason home dates – in what was a record-setting year at the Box Office.  The 37 regular season sellouts were the most in STAPLES Center history (1999-present) and the most sellouts overall for the team since the 1991-92 season.  In addition, the Kings regular season average attendance of 18,119 last year was the highest in team history.  The Kings have also sold out 26 straight regular season games (Dec. 3, 2011 to present) entering this season and 55 of their last 57 regular season games (Jan. 15, 2011 to present). 

For all Kings ticket information, call 1-888-KINGS-LA (1-888-54647-52) and visit LAKings.com.

The Monarchs will travel to play the Providence Bruins at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center at 3:05 p.m. on Sunday, January 13. Catch all the play-by-play action of Monarchs hockey with Ken Cail on the Monarchs Radio Network WGIR 610 AM, WGIR.com and at www.manchestermonarchs.com, presented by Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.