PITTSBURGH — When the Flyers open their season for the second consecutive year against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 11, at least this time they won't have to wait through an agonizing Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremony.
For one, the Flyers will be at home at the Wells Fargo Center.
And two, the Bruins are no longer keepers of the Cup.
The Flyers' home opener, scheduled to be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network, is part of a quartet of games to open the 1,230-game NHL schedule for 2012-13.
If, you know, the Sept. 15 expiration of the league's collective bargaining agreement doesn't get in the way.
For the Flyers, the first 33 games of the schedule set up quite nicely, with 18 home games and not a single road game out of the Eastern time zone.
Then, the Flyers will embark on one of the longest road trips in team history, with eight consecutive games away from home, including a 14-day, six-game gantlet with stops in Nashville, St. Louis, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Jose and Vancouver.
The Flyers will face Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and the defending Cup champion Kings on Jan. 3 at Staples Center.
Since the Winnipeg Jets will remain in the Southeast Division for at least one more season, the Flyers' schedule again includes two trips to Manitoba. The Flyers will not travel to Detroit, Dallas, Edmonton, Calgary, Anaheim and Colorado this season.
According to OnTheForecheck.com, the Flyers will travel the fewest air miles (27,541) of any team in the NHL this season — a whopping 2,500 miles fewer than the next closest team, the Islanders. The league average this season will be 39,872 miles. Dallas (49,851) will spend the most time in the air. Last season, the Flyers traveled 34,193 miles and took two trips out West. The Flyers also will play 15 back-to-back games, a shade over the league average of 13.4.
After that hellacious Western swing during the New Year's holiday, the Flyers have four more road trips that include two or more games.
The season finale will be part of a three-game homestand. They close out the season on April 13 vs. the Rangers — against whom they went 0-6 last season — on the NHL's busiest day of the season: a 14-game, 28-team fight to the finish. n
Contact Frank Seravalli at seravaf@phillynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DNFlyers. For more Flyers coverage and opinion, read his blog at www.philly.com/FrequentFlyers.
