The Philadelphia Flyers revealed their schedule for the upcoming NHL season on Friday evening. The full schedule can be found here:
Back to normality
It may sound silly, but I’ve never been happier to see games against teams from out west on a schedule. The impact of COVID-19 stretched far beyond what we could’ve ever imagined and as far as sports were concerned, it meant that the Flyers ended up playing the same seven teams over and over again. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the division itself was tough and as opponents became more familiar, a flailing Flyers team was all too easy for more talented teams to pick apart, especially when the virus ravaged the Wells Fargo Center.
The addition of the Seattle Kraken means that the Flyers will lose two games against divisional opponents. Columbus and New Jersey will play the Flyers just three times each as opposed to the usual four. They will also face Atlantic Division teams three times, as well as every Western Conference team for both a home and an away fixture.
The Flyers schedule itself
The Flyers will kick things off in front of their roaring home crowd with a four-game home stretch for the first time since 1974-75. They will open proceedings against the Vancouver Canucks on October 15th before facing the Kraken on October 18th.
Their first road trip comes on the edge of Halloween and sees the team take their annual Canadian trip. Edmonton, Vancouver, and Calgary will all be faced within four days, creating a gruelling streak of road seven road games that will be played across nine days. Fatigue will be a common theme throughout the season due to the Olympic break and resumption of service as usual. The Flyers will also play 15 back-to-back sets, with all but one coming as a larger 3-game in 4-night span.
Talking of which, there will be a 20-day Olympic break from February 2nd-22nd. The Flyers will come off better than most from this, hosting a six-game homestand when NHL play resumes.
After that, the coin flips again. A five-game road trip is embedded between March 22nd & 29th, with the opponents being Detroit, St. Louis, Colorado, Nashville and Minnesota.
Overall, it’s just really nice to see a complete NHL schedule once again. We’re slowly getting back to normal and being able to see the Flyers face off against teams who aren’t divisional rivals that continued to get the best of them on a nightly basis, will definitely be a refreshing feelings for fans making their return to the Farg this upcoming season.
Photo Credit: Alex McIntyre
