The 1,271-game 2018-19 NHL regular-season schedule has been released, including the 82 that the Philadelphia Flyers will play. That means it’s time to start planning those vacation days for road trips, and to target those days fans will come to check out the newly renovated Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers play in two signature NHL events this season. On Black Friday, Nov. 23, they host the division rival New York Rangers in the 2018 Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown. On Saturday, Feb. 23, they move the game outdoors, as they play the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 2019 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series at Lincoln Financial Field. This is an intrastate rematch of the 2017 edition, won by Pittsburgh 4-2 at Heinz Field, though the first time the Flyers get to avenge their playoff series loss against the Penguins will come on Dec. 1 at PPG Paints Arena. The Flyers didn’t gain a victory in last season’s series (0-2-2) with the Pens for the first time since 2006-07 (0-6-2).
You will have to wait a while before the Flyers play the defending Stanley Cup champion, Washington Capitals. The first game against them is not until Jan. 8 but then will play them three more times in the month of Mar. The Flyers season series with the Western Conference champions, Vegas Golden Knights, will be over by mid-Oct. They play in the Sin City opening night, where you can go and watch the banner be raised, and at home on Oct. 13. The Connor McDavid show comes to Philadelphia on Saturday, Feb. 2. The back-to-back Art Ross Trophy winner is always must-see hockey action.
The Orange and Black will look to extend one of the weirdest streaks when they host the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 10. The Flyers have won the last 14 regular-season home games against the Hawks, with their last loss in Philadelphia to Chicago occurring all the way back on Nov. 9, 1996. Yes, many remember that Patrick Kane scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal on June 9, 2010, on Philadelphia home ice, but at least Flyers fans have this weird streak to hold over them.
Lets Play Back-to-Back
When a schedule is released, it’s important to break down the fatigue factor of a schedule. The Flyers play 13 times on back-to-back nights this season. They played 15 in two of the last three seasons (2017-18 and 2015-16) and 18 in 2016-17. Last season they were 6-6-3 in the first game and 8-5-2 in the second game. The league average is about 12 back-to-back games this season, with the Florida Panthers having the most (17) and six teams having the fewer with 10 (NYR, NSH, COL, CGY, ARI, WPG).
With all the goalie trade talk. Here's the list of #NHL B2B games this season, broken down by month #FantasyHockey pic.twitter.com/gwHMRkjVBh
— Matt Sitkoff (@matt_sitkoff) June 23, 2018
The Flyers play only two B2Bs in their first 24 games but then have three each in the months of Dec., Jan. and March. Three times this season they have to play consecutive nights on the road in different cities. None of these instances have two straight home games but one is a home-and-home series with the Detroit Red Wings in Feb. The Flyers will have to continue their success from last season while playing fatigued.
Here's the #Flyers B2B Schedule for 2018-19. #NHL pic.twitter.com/KPV4i97Zhg
— Matt Sitkoff (@matt_sitkoff) June 23, 2018
The Home and Road Trails
The Flyers have two homestands that are five-games this season. The first one is from Nov. 8 to Nov. 17 where they play the Arizona Coyotes, Blackhawks, Panthers, New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning. The second will be in Feb. when the Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, and Penguins come to town.
The Flyers head out west for a four-game swing from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5 to play the Ducks, Kings, Sharks, and Coyotes. Their toughest road stretch comes from Dec. 8 to Jan 1. when they play ten of 13 games away from Philadelphia. If you’re missing watching people skate on the ice at the Wells Fargo Center, you can catch “Disney On Ice Presents Mickey’s Search Party” while the Flyers are away from Christmas to New Year’s.