Home / News / Here’s the Washington Capitals’ schedule for the 2020-21 season. They’ll play the Pittsburgh Penguins 8 times.

Here’s the Washington Capitals’ schedule for the 2020-21 season. They’ll play the Pittsburgh Penguins 8 times.

By Ian Oland

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December 23, 2020 3:23 pm

It’s finally here.

The NHL has released the schedule for the 2020-21 season. As discussed before, the Washington Capitals will only play teams in its division, meaning there will be eight games against the Pittsburgh Penguins this season… at least.

The Capitals will open the season in Buffalo on January 14 against the Sabres.

Scroll through the below Instagram embed to see the full schedule.

Here are all the season-opening games league-wide.

Beyond the Pens, the Capitals will play the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers eight times and must be one of the top four teams to make the Divisional Playoffs at the end of the year. The East Division is arguably the most stacked division in all of hockey.

“It’s going to be competitive,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said on Wednesday. “Our division is going to be tough. It’s got a lot of good teams. It’s going to be interesting how it pans out in the end.

“Every game is going to be intense,” he added. “All the teams are pretty close talent-wise. Some teams are improving a little. I expect high-intensity games throughout the whole schedule.”

The beginning of the Capitals schedule is especially brutal as they open the season with a four-game road trip that will see them play the Sabres on back-to-back nights (January 14, 15) before traveling to Pittsburgh for two games in three days against the Pens. The Capitals’ home opener is on January 22 against the Sabres.

Tarik El-Bashir reports that the Capitals will play “56 games in 114 days” and have “10 sets of back-to-backs.”

According to the NHL, “the 868-game regular-season schedule – 56 games per team – will conclude Saturday, May 8, when 30 of the League’s 31 teams take to the ice.”

There will be hockey every day of the season.

It should be fun.

More from the Capitals:

Capitals Announce 2020-21 Regular-Season Schedule

ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Hockey League today announced the 2020-21 regular-season schedule for its 31 member clubs. The Washington Capitals will play 56 games against East Division opponents and will open the season at KeyBank Center on Thursday, Jan. 14 against the Buffalo Sabres. The Capitals home opener will take place on Friday, Jan. 22 vs. Buffalo at Capital One Arena.

Washington will play each team in the re-aligned East Division eight times. The East Division includes the Boston Bruins, the Buffalo Sabres, the New Jersey Devils, the New York Islanders, the New York Rangers, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Capitals’ regular season schedule consists of 25 two-game sets against the same opponent at the same venue, with the first pair of games to be played against the Sabres on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15 in Buffalo. Washington will then travel to Pittsburgh for two games against the Penguins on Jan. 17 and Jan. 19 at PPG Paints Arena before hosting Buffalo on Jan. 22 and Jan. 24 at Capital One Arena. The Capitals will conclude the regular season with two games against the Philadelphia Flyers on May 6 and May 8 at Capital One Arena. In total, the Capitals are scheduled to play 13 two-game sets at home and 11 two-game sets on the road.

The Capitals have four homestands of at least four games on the schedule, the longest being two six-game stretches at Capital One Arena from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1 and March 15 to March 28. Washington has five stretches of at least four consecutive road games, including a season-long six-game road trip from April 17 to April 27. In addition, the Capitals will have 10 sets of back-to-back games.

Thirteen of the Capitals’ 28 home games at Capital One Arena fall on weekends, which includes four games on Friday, four on Saturday and five on Sunday. Additionally, Washington will play Philadelphia on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 7), marking the 14th time in the last 15 seasons and the 13th consecutive season the Capitals will host a game on Super Bowl Sunday.

Game times and television broadcast plans will be released at a later date. All Capitals games can be heard on the Caps Radio Network, 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7, WashingtonCaps.com and on the Washington Caps mobile app.

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