The Pittsburgh Penguins will open the regular season against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday.
We have officially made it! The Pittsburgh Penguins will open the 2026-27 season against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.
This matchup comes five months after the Flyers ended the Penguins' season in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Defenseman Cam York scored the series-winning goal in overtime.
Since then, the Penguins have made several changes, including adding players like Declan Carlile, Kaedan Korczak, Nick Robertson, Hendrix Lapierre, and several others. They also lost some players, but that's what you'd expect from a team that lost in the first round.
The Flyers are returning almost their entire team for the 2026-27 season and will look to take another step after advancing to the second round of the playoffs. They'll get a full season from forward Porter Martone after he played well down the stretch last season and into the playoffs.
Goaltender Dan Vladar had a great year, which led him to sign a new five-year extension this summer. The Flyers hope he can replicate his 2025-26 season over the course of the contract.
The Penguins enter this game banged up and will be without Ben Kindel, Justin Brazeau, and Bryan Rust. Andrei Kuzmenko is also out, but that's because he's still in Russia for his father's funeral.
Blake Lizotte is listed on injured reserve, but will likely play tonight after Penguins head coach Dan Muse told reporters after the morning skate that Lizotte "looks good." Lizotte fully participated in practice on Monday and Tuesday.
Here are a look at the Penguins' expected lines and pairs:
Forwards
Robertson-Crosby-Rakell
Chinakhov-Novak-Malkin
Hallander-Lapierre-Koivunen
Dewar-Lizotte-Soderblom
Defensive pairs
Carlile-Karlsson
van Riemsdyk-Letang
Girard-Korczak
Arturs Silovs will start in goal for the Penguins and Sergei Murashov will be the backup.
Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT and truTV. You can also listen to the game on 105.9 'The X.'
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