On Jul. 16, the NHL and all of its teams released the full 2026-27 regular season schedule. And, as always, it came with quirky schedule release videos on social media and a lot of buzz surrounding matchups.

And, for the Pittsburgh Penguins, it will be another season of trying to defy expectations - as well as yet another year of schedule highlights to look forward to.

For one, this NHL season begins earlier - on Sept. 29 - because the season has increased from 82 to 84 games, which heightens the importance of divisional matchups. Also, with the Penguins aiming to improve upon their 2025-26 season that resulted in their first playoff appearance in four years, there figures to be plenty of intrigue, especially in the final stretch run of the season.

Here are 10 highlights from the Penguins' 2026-27 schedule that folks should circle on their calendars.

There's nothing quite like opening the season against not only your rival, but also the team that just beat you in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Penguins will have their first shot at some revenge when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers for their season-opener on Sept. 30. The Flyers beat Pittsburgh in double overtime of Game 6 during the first round of the 2026 postseason, which was a heartbreaker because the Penguins - had they won - would have erased a 3-0 series deficit.

They'll also face former teammate Noel Acciari for the first time since he inked a two-year deal worth $2.8 million annually with the Flyers after the onset of free agency.

Fans won't have to wait long to see the Penguins at home to start the season, either. After the season-opener in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh will play host to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, Oct. 3, which will be the first of 22 Saturday games during the regular season.

Pittsburgh lost two out of three against Montreal last season - with all three games taking place in December - but they are 7-3 in their last 10 games against the Habs and have outscored them 39-29 in those games.

The Thanksgiving Eve game is, notoriously, one of the best games of the year to attend. Fans are rowdy, the atmosphere is electric, and it, honestly, doesn't really even matter who the Penguins are playing.

In this case, they'll square off against the Calgary Flames, who they faced in this exact setup on Nov. 23, 2022 in one of the more entertaining regular season games within the last few years. That game went to a shootout, and that's when Evgeni Malkin - playing in his 1,000th NHL game - ended things in Round 4 to bring the crowd to its feet and send fans home happy and hungry for turkey.

There aren't any particularly long homestands for the Penguins this season - they will have just three four-game homestands, which are the longest ones - but their first will come right before the brief, three-day holiday break near the end of December.

Starting Dec. 15, the Penguins will face the Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings, Seattle Kraken, and Buffalo Sabres before heading home for the holidays, and it's a good time to consider where they are at in the standings at that point. And they'll also have a nice gift waiting for them on the other end of the holidays, which we'll get to in a second.

In a general sense, too, the Penguins will play a lot at home prior to the All-Star break in mid-February and not so much in the final stretch of the season, when they'll play only 11 of their final 29 regular season games at home and end the season on a four-game road trip.

About that nice holiday gift waiting for them? How about two consecutive matchups against the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes?

The Penguins and Hurricanes almost always square off in late-December, and it's no different this season. They will play them for the first time during the 2026-27 season in Carolina on Dec. 26 before returning home on Dec. 29 to face the Canes again. Then, the two teams will see each other a little more than a week later on Jan. 7 in Carolina and not face each other again until Mar. 27.

Even though the Penguins went 1-3 against the Canes last season, the matchup was a bit closer than it appeared. Facing the Hurricanes next season will be a nice barometer for where they're at competitively. 

New Year's Day used to be reserved for the NHL's Winter Classic, but that's no longer the case, as this season's will be held between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on New Year's Eve the night before.

Still, hockey on New Year's Day just feels right, and the Penguins will host the Minnesota Wild at home that Friday for a 6:00 start time. The first of the year is always a great day for hockey, and this year should be no different.

After the conclusion of All-Star festivities on Long Island in February, the Penguins will immediately hit the road for their longest trip of the season - and that includes a five-game swing across Western Canada.

They'll kick things off against the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 13, then they'll face the Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks back-to-back on the 15th and 16th. Pittsburgh will visit Calgary on the 19th and Winnipeg on the 21st before coming back stateside for a matchup in Minnesota against the Wild to conclude the six-game road trip.

A similar road trip was a critical one for Pittsburgh last season, and they ended up going 6-0 on it to put them in an excellent spot heading into the Olympic break. That kind of magic happening again this season certainly would not hurt.

The days leading up to the NHL's trade deadline are always intriguing, and that is why any games on or directly preceding that day are easy ones to circle on the calendar.

The 2027 NHL trade deadline will be on Mar. 5, and the Penguins will be in Sunrise to take on the Florida Panthers the day before on the 4th. Pittsburgh is in an interesting spot right now in terms of their want to compete and their simultaneous focus on building for the future, so this will be a particularly interesting game to tune into depending on where they're at in the standings.

If they are in a position to qualify for the postseason, don't be surprised if Kyle Dubas and the Penguins shoot a bit bigger by deadline day next season - especially since they are, allegedly, already trying to shoot bigger and take the next competitive step in their rebuild.

Following the trade deadline, the Penguins face an unforgiving March and April schedule. And that includes a season-ending divisional gauntlet that has a pretty high likelihood of holding some significance in terms of whether or not the Penguins make the playoffs next season.

Beginning Mar. 13, the Penguins have a stretch of 15 games where they play 13 Metropolitan Division opponents - with the only other two games coming against the Detroit Red Wings on Mar. 14 and Apr. 9. They play the New Jersey Devils three times during that stretch as well as the Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, and Washington Capitals twice each with Carolina and the New York Islanders sprinkled in.

Buckle up, folks. The end of the season is sure to be chaotic and fun.

It's safe to say that we may be declaring this for 100 more years at this point. Because, really, who knows? We said the same thing last year!

But, this could very well be the final time Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin face off against one another, and just like last season, folks should always treat it as the last time, just in case. This matchup will take place in Washington, but if Penguins fans want to, potentially, see Ovi one last time in Pittsburgh, the final game of the season between the teams in Pittsburgh will be on Mar. 13 - the day the divisional gauntlet ensues.

Don't take this rivalry for granted. This one, like pretty much all the games between these two teams for the last two decades, will be can't-miss hockey.

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