The Pens kick off the new year with this schedule
Continuing on from December and the previous months, we’re breaking down the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2024-25 season by moving into January. The year of 2025 sounds like it should be far into the future but is right around the corner.
The All-Star break and bye week is usually the light at the end of the tunnel in late January in usual NHL schedules but this season (and next) will not be normal due to the “international” events. That’s in quotes since this year the special event is only for the four nations that the NHL is hosting outside of the normal IIHF banner. In 2026, it will be more traditional with the Olympics.
That means January will be one of the biggest grinds for the Penguins and the rest of the league. Pittsburgh will enter January having played 39 games in the first 2.5 months of the season. When they leave the month, the season will be almost two-thirds of the way done (53 games, 64% of it) and they will face their most daunting and longest-lasting road trip that will cover 12 days, three time zones and seven games.
That light at the end of the tunnel, a 13-day break in mid February, will have to be earned through the grind of January.
Number of games: 14
Home-Road: 5-9
Conference Breakdown: 7 games vs. East; 7 games vs. West
Games Against Metro Division: 3
Back-to-Backs: 2
Highlights: The Pens will have to punch the clock with seven games in a 12-day stretch from Jan 3-14, but logistically this will be the easiest part of the month since the last five games all come at home. Competitively, it might be the toughest part with games against Florida, Carolina and the dreaded Oilers on the docket within the first four contests of the new year. After that the sea of white away games is ahead. There will be some fun, a full week in California interrupted by a quick jaunt up to Seattle is a gift from the schedulers to get out of the Western Pennsylvania winter. Then to close the month out, the Pens take their first trip to play in Utah in the NHL’s newest city.
It might be all fun and games in the early part of the season, but January is where the rubber meets the road — in a literal sense. Pittsburgh won’t have a longer road trip this year. As is the norm, the team will get a lot of their out-of-conference games out of the way at this point of the year for a schedule that clears out to a large portion of divisional games towards the end. But when looking at 2023-24’s results, improving outcomes in these type of mid-year, non-conference games will be a big opportunity (and challenge) for the Penguins and where they could end up in the standings.