DALLAS -- Good news, the Penguins will not play 19 sets of back-to-back games next season. They will play 11 of them this year and the first set won't come until Nov. 23-24 at Boston and against Columbus.
That was one of the highlights in the 2018-19 Penguins' schedule which was released Thursday afternoon.
The full schedule can be seen here.
In addition to the previously reported Oct. 4 season opener against the Capitals at PPG Paints Arena, the Penguins will face Alex Ovechkin and the Stanley Cup champions on Nov. 7 and Dec. 19 at Washington and March 12 in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins will play their first three games of the season at home before playing their first road game Saturday, Oct. 13 at Montreal. They will close out their regular-season schedule on Saturday, April 6 vs. the Rangers.
Marc-Andre Fleury and the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights come to Pittsburgh on Oct. 11 while the traditional Thanksgiving Eve home game will be held Nov. 21 vs. Dallas.
The Penguins will receive their bye week Jan. 20-27. Before that, they will play a season-long, nine-day, five-game western road trip that begins Jan. 11 at Anaheim and concludes Jan. 19 at Vegas.
After playing host to the Flyers at Heinz Field in 2017, the Penguins will have another outdoor game. The Stadium Series game against the Flyers will be held Feb. 23 at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field. The home of the Super Bowl champion Eagles is in the same parking lot as the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers' home ice.
March is the busiest stretch of the season. The Penguins play 16 games in 31 days but just seven of them are against teams that qualified for the playoffs last season. The final three games of the season are against the Red Wings (twice) and Rangers, also non-playoff teams in 2017-18.
