The Penguins’ November schedule includes a long home stand and a game featuring a brand-new franchise.
What else can Pittsburgh Penguins fans do in early August (besides waiting for the impending Sidney Crosby contract extension)?
Today, we’re continuing our month-by-month look at the Penguins’ schedule to preview some marquee matchups across the 82-game season. Let’s dive into November as we approach American Thanksgiving and the holiday season.
Month: November
Number of games: 14
First Game: Nov. 2 (vs. Montreal Canadiens)
Home-Road: 9-5
Conference Breakdown: 8 games vs. East; 6 games vs. West
Games Against Metro Division: 4
Back-to-Backs: 4
Highlights: Starting the month with a home game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Penguins’ November schedule will give the team plenty of opportunities for victories inside the comfy confines of PPG Paints Arena.
ESPN
Following the home game against Montreal, Pittsburgh heads out for a three-game road trip against Metropolitan Division foes in the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, and Washington Capitals, respectively.
The Penguins will have a five-game home stand against the San Jose Sharks (Nov. 16), the Tampa Bay Lightning (Nov. 19), the Winnipeg Jets (Nov. 22), the first-ever matchup against the Utah Hockey Club (Nov. 23), and the Vancouver Canucks (Nov. 27).
November comes to a close with a back-to-back set in Boston against the Bruins before turning around and heading home for a duel against the Calgary Flames.
One of the old hockey adages is the foreshadowing of a playoff berth if you are above the playoff line by American Thanksgiving. Given the Penguins’ team-friendly schedule this month, if they have aspirations of clinching a playoff spot for the first time since the 2021-22 season, it would help if they could take advantage of that five-game set at PPG Paints Arena.
Welcome, Utah
Seeing a brand-new hockey team travel into your city for the first time may boost those attendance numbers for your run-of-the-mill November hockey game.
The Utah Hockey Club is officially labeled as an ‘expansion’ team, even if the NHL never went through the proper expansion process given the shaky-at-best circumstances surrounding the then-Arizona Coyotes and their never-ending search for an NHL-caliber arena.
Will Utah’s first-ever draft pick, Tij Iginla, son of Penguins legend Jarome Iginla, make the NHL roster out of training camp?
Sidney Crosby thought he finished his quest to score at least once against every other NHL team and in every team’s home city, finally scoring against the Dallas Stars in Dallas in March 2023. That statistic again has an asterisk since Utah is a new team in a brand-new NHL market.
Will Crosby score against Utah in November? Will he score inside the Delta Center when the Penguins travel to Utah for the first time in January 2025? Stay tuned.
The Thanksgiving Eve game
Thanksgiving may belong to the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys, but no one can take away Thanksgiving Eve from the Penguins. This year, the team welcomes old friends Patrik Allvin, Jim Rutherford, and the Vancouver Canucks to town for the annual pre-holiday clash.
The Penguins own a 24-19-7 home record for this unofficial tradition, and they’ll have their hands full trying to slow down electric players like Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson before they can dig into a turducken.