We now know who the Philadelphia Flyers play against and where and when for all 84 games of the 2026-27 season, as the team announced their full schedule, so we can plan accordingly. But what games specifically should we circle on our calendar to really be locked in for?
We have eight (or 10) games that should really get noticed by every single Flyers fan and anyone reading this website in the middle of July should surely prioritize these matchups.
September 30 – vs. Penguins
It all starts that night. Roughly 10 weeks from now, we’ll be gearing up to watch the very first game of this 84-game schedule. A season that should be fairly exciting no matter what, full of finding out what the Flyers have in their key young players, and maybe a couple surprises along the way.
And of course, it starts with the Pittsburgh Penguins coming to Philadelphia with their tail between their legs after getting beat in the playoffs and needing to face yet another raucous crowd. Maybe there will be some new Flyers players too.
October 3 – vs. Hurricanes
Later that week, the Flyers will be hosting the Stanley Cup champions for the first time and while we like to focus a lot on reunions, we’ve had plenty of reminders just how many former Flyers players (and bloggers) are in the Hurricanes organization.
It will also serve as the first game back since Carolina swept the Flyers in the second round of the playoffs, and it can serve as a bit of a benchmark to just how this slightly improved team can stand up to them once again. The regular season is different from the playoffs, of course, but we shall see.
October 17 – vs. Senators
Claude Giroux could have made an emotional return to the Flyers this summer, but instead kept the status quo and re-signed with the Senators. Well, if this is going to be his final year playing in the NHL, this could also be final time that Giroux would be lacing up to play in Philadelphia. We’re sure there will be some heightened emotions still at this game, even if he doesn’t formally announce that this will be his final year.
It’s extremely early in the season but it is the first and only time the Senators will be visiting the Flyers.
October 24 – vs. Ducks
It’s so funny to say this about two teams on opposite coasts, but this might be the first game that people look for on the schedule now. The Anaheim Ducks and Cutter Gauthier are going to make their trip to Philadelphia within the first month of the season and it could really set the tone early on.
And now, we get the added storyline of Leo Carlsson playing in the city that he could have called home but his Ducks team decided to match the offer sheet and possibly commit themselves to having a much worse hockey team for the next couple of years. Hopefully the Flyers get up for this game and really show what he’s missing out on — which can now be applied to both Carlsson and Gauthier now, for different reasons.
November 15 – vs. Oilers
Whenever Connor McDavid comes to town, you have to circle it on the calendar. Even if there is no interesting rivalry or really anything surrounding the game, it is something that the best player of this generation is coming to visit Philadelphia, along with what is a slightly improved Oilers team. Oh, and Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard are there too, I guess.
Maybe if the crowd is fun enough and really show out here, McDavid can dream of wearing the Orange and Black when he hits free agency in 2028. Just to put a nugget of that idea into his head.
November 27 – vs. Canucks
Hey, the Flyers are once again playing on Black Friday. It’s a tradition that has been engrained in the modern team history as just something that we all expect. And now, it’s the disastrous Vancouver Canucks coming to Philadelphia — which is fitting since they will have roughly 50% of an actual NHL team on their roster, so it’s like the Flyers will get to feast on their own Black Friday sale on the ice.
Maybe a little sprinkle of storyline of Rick Tocchet getting to see his former team visit him, as well.
January 1-4 – California road trip
It was the trip that really turned around the entire season last year, so now we have to pay attention to it a whole lot more. Not to mention that it will also be the Flyers’ turn to visit Carlsson and Gauthier in Anaheim, come to hangout with Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks, and I guess play against the Los Angeles Kings, too?
To make it even more interesting, the Flyers will starting off 2027 with this trip, and it’s the second half of a road trip that also features going to Chicago and Seattle after the holiday break.
January 31 – at Penguins
Finally, this will be the first time that the Flyers get to visit Pittsburgh, for some reason. Despite playing in the same division and the league clearly understanding that it is a rejuvenated rivalry, the Flyers will not be going to play the Penguins away until January 31, and then the second and only other time they do this is on April 3, in the fourth-last game of the season.
It’s a building they know and have had a lot of success in lately (like how they went up 2-0 in a playoff series).
This doesn’t mean that there are no more interesting games in the season, but whether it is firsts or the next installment in the most interesting rivalry in the NHL, it all happens in the first few months of the Flyers’ season.
