Flyers 2015-16 Schedule Released
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Flyers, in conjunction with the National Hockey League, today unveiled their schedule for the 2015-16 season. The Flyers will open their 49th NHL season on Thursday, October 8 at Tampa Bay. The trip includes the start of a home-and-home series with Florida, the back half of which will serve as the Flyers' home opener against the Panthers on Monday, October 12 at 7 PM. The Flyers will close the season at home when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, April 9, 2016.
The NHL heads into its third season under the current alignment of four divisions –two each in the Eastern and Western Conference. The two Eastern Conference divisions contain eight teams each and the two in the Western Conference each have seven teams.
Once again this year, the Flyers will play all of their divisional opponents at least four times – twice at home and twice on the road. The schedule format includes an additional game against two of their in-division counterparts for a total of five. This year, the Flyers' five-game opponents are the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers. They will visit the Islanders a total of three times and will host the Rangers three times. The Flyers will play a total of 30 games against opponents in their division.
The Flyers will play the eight Atlantic Division teams three times each for a total of 24 games against that division. The Flyers will play two home games and one road game against Boston, Buffalo, Montreal and Toronto. They will play two road games and one home game against Detroit, Florida, Ottawa and Tampa Bay. The breakdown of home and road games against each Atlantic Division team is the reverse of what it was in the 2014-15 season, and is the same as the initial season of the format in 2013-14.
The Flyers will again play a home-and-home series with every Western Conference team, assuring that fans will have the opportunity to see every NHL club at the Wells Fargo Center at least once this season. The Flyers will play a total of 28 games against the Western Conference, which is split into the Central Division and the Pacific Division.
The Flyers will play between 10 and 15 games each full month of the season. Their travel schedule is a bit more balanced this year, with the eight road games in November marking their busiest month on the road. They play seven road games in each of three other months. They will play eight home games in February, which will be their busiest month at the Wells Fargo Center. The club plays 15 sets of back-to-back games this year.
The early part of the season includes a visit from the 2015 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on October 14 and the annual Black Friday game, which takes place on November 27 vs. the Nashville Predators at 3:00 PM.
After the first two-game trip, the Flyers will play six of their next seven games at home before embarking on the first extended road trip of the season from Oct. 30 – Nov. 7. A stop in Buffalo precedes the first trip out to the Western Conference, with stops in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg.
The Flyers will have a considerably shortened version of their annual holiday season road trip, which comes while Disney on Ice presents 100 Years of Magic takes over the Wells Fargo Center from December 24 through January 3. This year's journey is just three games over the course of one week – Dec. 27 through Jan. 2, with visits to Anaheim, San Jose and Los Angeles.
The second half of the season includes a season-high six-game homestand from Feb. 25 – March 7. After that homestand, the Flyers play seven of their next nine games on the road over the next 15 days. Once that trip is done, five of the final seven games of the season are at home, including the finale vs. Pittsburgh.
Also on the schedule is the 39th annual Flyers Wives Carnival, which will take place on Sunday, March 13 at the Wells Fargo Center.
A copy of the 2015-16 schedule is below: