By: Evan Michael | Follow me on Twitter @00EvanMichael
It’s time to put the upcoming Bruins’ schedule… well… on your schedule! That’s right, B’s fans, the Black N’ Gold Hockey Blog’s annual Mark Your Calendar series is back and for the first time in two seasons, it’s filled to the Boston brim with a full 82-game line-up!
With the team just releasing individual game tickets today, excitement is beginning to buzz around TD Garden, and throughout the entire league, for a regular season that’s finally back to being “regular” after two COVID-altered campaigns — one in a bubble and another severely shortened amidst divisional realignment (sorry Tampa, both of your Stanley Cup wins get an *asterisk* in my book).
How will the scheduling stars align for the Bruins next year? According to the team’s official release from earlier this week, here’s what fans can get excited about — a promising preview, if you will, of what’s to come for 2021-22.
The Black & Gold will kick off the season with the home opener against the Dallas Stars at TD Garden on Saturday, October 16. The Bruins will then set out on their first road trip of the season and play games against the Philadelphia Flyers (10/20) and Buffalo Sabres (10/22).
Other key games on the schedule include an away/home back-to-back against Florida (10/27 & 10/30); the Bruins’ first trip to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs (11/6); the Montreal Canadien’s first trip to TD Garden (11/14); Tampa Bay’s first trip to Boston (12/4); the Western Canada swing, taking on the Vancouver Canucks (12/8), Edmonton Oilers (12/9) and Calgary Flames (12/11); a three game-road trip to play Tampa Bay (1/8), Washington (1/10) and Montreal (1/12).
The Bruins’ six-game homestand in January is its longest of the season. During that period, the Philadelphia Flyers (1/13), Nashville Predators (1/15), Carolina Hurricanes (1/18), Washington Capitals (1/20), Winnipeg Jets (1/22) and Anaheim Ducks (1/24) pay a visit to Boston. The Seattle Kraken make their first-ever trip to the TD Garden (2/1).
The 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 4-5.
Following the break, the Bruins embark on their longest road trip of the season. The Bruins will play six games over 11 days, including their first-ever trip to Seattle to face the Kraken (2/24). The remaining five matchups on the road trip come against the San Jose Sharks (2/26), Los Angeles Kings (2/28), Anaheim Ducks (3/1), Vegas Golden Knights (3/3) and Columbus Blue Jackets (3/5). In late April, the Bruins have a home/away back-to-back against the N.Y. Rangers (4/23 & 4/24) before closing out the regular season on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs (4/29).
Veteran BN’G writer Max Mainville broke down the “main” attractions to the B’s pre-season schedule for us, with a particular highlight being games against the Capitals in both Boston and D.C. That’s a fine way to get fine-tuned for what will be a busy and bustling season for the B’s: by playing against a top-tiered team early and often to get the juices flowing and the skates going.
Once the regular season gets going in mid-October (the pre-season will last from September 26th – October 6th, spanning six games), the Bruins will be back to pre-pandemic business for the first time since 2019. And with an important draft, free agency period and off season training plan ahead of them, the B’s will need to be all business when it comes to starting ’21-’22 on time.
With Jeremy Lauzon on his way to Seattle via the NHL Expansion Draft (reminder: the B’s and Kraken play against each other twice in 2022), official word on a Taylor Hall signing still in the pipeline, the future of David Krejci and Tuukka Rask truly up in the air, and a GM who needs to keep busy by adding to the talented –but aging– B’s core, it’s shaping up to be an exciting next few months for Boston. Especially with the team’s new schedule now out!
We’ll be getting out to preview some of the biggest games and marquee match-ups ahead for the B’s this upcoming season throughout our entire Mark Your Calendar series, starting in October and going all the way through April (and hopefully well into May and June).
So check back in to the BN’G Blog every Friday afternoon this Summer and into the Fall for the days and dates you need to mark on your Bruins calendar for 2021-2022!
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