You can go back and find parts oneand twohere of this series.
We take a look at what the Penguins will be facing now in the home stretch of their 2026-27 schedule.
March
The NHL season always seems to hit its crescendo in March as teams hit the trade deadline and make last ditch moves to gain or solidify a playoff spot. The Pens shift solely to the Eastern Conference with six games against the Atlantic Division and eight key matchups against every single other team in the Metropolitan Division (with
a second game against Columbus thrown in for good measure). The Pens will complete the circuit of playing every team in their division from Mar 7-30, with a couple of Atlantic games in the middle.
It’s a perfect 7/7 split for home and road games in the month with only two weekend afternoon back-to-back sets thrown in. The spurts of games aren’t overwhelming, but leaves for little down time since the first two non-consecutive game days of the month don’t occur until the 23rd-24th.
The two-week stretch from March 13-27th could define the whole season. It features eight games, seven against division opponents. With the standings expected to be a close battle, this is the type of stretch that could make or break a whole season.
April
The April slate is brief, given the season ends by the 10th, though still packed with six games and a pair of back-to-backs. The season ends in a sprint and a fairly long four-game road trip to get to the finish line of the 84-game schedule. The efforts to schedule towards divisional opponents late is on full display, with five of the six games for Pittsburgh coming against Metropolitan opponents.
Though 2025-26 results will be long in the rear view by this point, the Pens do end 2026-27 with five games against teams that failed to qualify for the 2026 postseason. However, every single one of these clubs (NYI, WSH, NYR, DET, NJ) have expectations and internal desires to rebound and have better upcoming years, which could make the schedule more difficult than it might appear when holding up the past – especially considering the majority of them will be away from PPG Paints Arena.
It will be a long road to get to the end of the year, surely to be filled with unexpected ups and downs. The Pens were one of the NHL’s most pleasant surprises last season, this time around their opponents will have to be prepared to pack a lunch and prepare for what should be some high-scoring and intense hockey in a parity-filled world where any team can win on a given night.
