Penguins' 2020-21 schedule released, includes only division foes
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ rivalries with the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals feature some of the most heated blood-feuds in the history of the NHL.
They are born out of geography but also out of frequency, having met one another so often on so many stages.
In other words, they don’t like one another because they see each other too much.
The 2020-21 season, which will take place only in the 2021 calendar year, will amplify that.
On Wednesday, the NHL released schedules that will feature division-only play during the regular season.
That means the Penguins will face everyone in the new, temporary East Division eight times. And oftentimes, they will face them in consecutive games in the same city.
First on the schedule will be meetings with their familiar foes in Philadelphia. The Penguins and Flyers will meet Jan. 13 at Wells Fargo Center then square off again Jan. 13 at the same venue.
The Penguins’ first home games will follow against the Capitals at PPG Paints Arena on Jan. 17 and 19.
Each team is scheduled to play 56 games strictly against division foes.
For the Penguins, that means they will be limited to contests against the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Flyers and Capitals.
Their regular season is scheduled to conclude May 8 with a home game against the Sabres.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the NHL wanted to limit travel — particularly because of the indefinite closure of the United States-Canada border — and will stage only intradivision games this season. Should the Penguins qualify for the postseason, the first and second rounds also would be against East Division foes.
“Certainly, the East is a very strong division,” general manager Jim Rutherford said Tuesday. “It’s teams that are used to each other. We’ve got good rival teams in there. … It will, obviously, be very competitive.”
The idea of staging regular season “series” in the same city — similar to an NCAA hockey or MLB schedule — is something many players — most notably Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews — have suggested for several years in order to reduce the number of hours players and staff are physically traveling during the season. The unique nature of this pandemic-delayed season appears to offer a chance to experiment with that theory.
Game times will be announced at a later date.
The full schedule:
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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