NHL releases Penguins 2020-21 schedule

The Penguins will open their 2020-21 season with the Philadelphia Flyers.

We all knew there would only be seven opponents but that gets a bit repetitive, doesn’t it?

Most games are setup in two game blocks in the same city, to cutdown on travel. Not really a huge consideration for this newly minted Eastern division where all the teams are close, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Especially moving forward in the future, will any of these elements remain in the years to come? We’ll have to see, but clearly the whole landscape of the world will be changed and adjusted in so many different ways.

One nice thing about this schedule is there aren’t too many back-to-backs in terms of two games in consecutive days. The Penguins have four instances of this of first brief glance.

But the schedule is also unforgiving in other ways. Two day breaks are far between. Three day breaks don’t even exist. The season concludes with five games in the first eight days of May, which could be a crucial rush to the finish for playoff positioning. Pittsburgh ends the year with two games against Buffalo, perhaps one of the lower-end teams of the division. Will they have to make a final push then?

At least now there’s a schedule out there to consider.