Penguins are eager for 2-game 'series' this season

The Penguins will be in a familiar place when they play the first game of their 54th season Wednesday.

Philadelphia.

The Wells Fargo Center has been the theater for some of the NHL’s most ferocious and fervid battles between the Penguins and their most enduring rival, the Flyers.

From the bright orange banners recognizing the Flyers’ championships that hang in the rafters to the navy blue Villanova basketball team’s locker room that serves as a visiting dressing room for NHL teams, the Penguins are quite familiar with the venue.

And sure enough, they will be acquainted with the locale of their second game on Friday as well.

Philadelphia.

With the NHL operating within the extraordinary circumstances of a pandemic, the league has limited the shortened 56-game regular season to intra-division games. And one of the wrinkles of that format is the usage of two-game “series” in the same city.

Barring the real possibility of schedule changes, the Penguins are slated to have 26 such series this season.

Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews largely was credited with the concept, suggesting it publicly a handful of years ago. Drawing comparisons to Major League Baseball, Toews campaigned for the NHL to adopt a similar measure to reduce the grind of travel, particularly for Western Conference teams that cover far more North American airspace than their Eastern Conference peers.

NHL leaders largely dismissed the idea in subsequent years, but with the pandemic creating all sorts of logistical issues, namely the partial closure of the border between the United States and Canada, the so-called “Toews Schedule” is getting a test run.

“Yeah, I like it,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said recently via video conference with media. “Obviously, it’s more because of the (pandemic) situation. It’s something that came up before, and it didn’t really materialize. Not having to travel (as much), just kind of getting settled in one place and playing a team a couple of times should increase the rivalry aspect.”

For the Penguins, that will mean eight meetings within the temporary East Division with the Flyers, Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders and New York Rangers, each long-time divisional foes whether it be in the old Patrick Division or the more contemporary Metropolitan Division.

Also joining that group will be refugees from the former Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres.

In some ways, it’s similar to a schedule in NCAA hockey.

“That’s the first thing I thought of was it’s kind of back to college,” said forward Jake Guentzel, a product of the University of Nebraska Omaha program. “It’s going to be a lot of rivalry games and a lot of hostility in the game. It’s going to be fun to play in as a player. These series, it’s something different and something unique about this season. Even with no fans (in the arena), I still think it’s going to be very intense games.”

For many players, cutting down on travel has a significant appeal.

Typically, after regular season road games, players frantically remove their gear and stuff it into their gargantuan hockey bags for equipment staffers to load into a box truck that will soon head to the airport. All the while, reporters and media manuever around those bags and stray sticks or skates to get a few quotes from a 20-goal winger on why the power play stunk that night as other players shower, dress in suits and head to a bus also destined for a plane to make the next town.

It’s a chaotic environment that won’t be nearly as common this season.

Players got to experience a relative sense of calm following games during the NHL’s postseason tournament last summer that was staged in quarantined zones — or “bubbles” — in Toronto and Edmonton. Following games, they simply took off their gear, cleaned up and went to the team hotel.

“It will have an impact,” said forward Jason Zucker. “Talking to some guys, I think there was definitely a noticeable difference in the bubble with no travel playing all those games. It will have an impact.”

Above all, the greater level of familiarity with an opponent and the granular details of their play could have the biggest impact on how the season unfolds. In some ways, these two-game series will be similar to best-of-seven postseason series where adjustments are made, in part, to simply keep the other team guessing.

“I love playing a team, especially twice,” defenseman Brian Dumoulin said. “You get to know them. … I like to get to know (an opposing) player’s tendencies and what they’re going to. If they’re going to finish a hit, if they peel off. All that information helps me as a player. I enjoy the two-game series. Obviously, they’re intense games, especially when you know that you’re going to be playing them (eight) times. It’s going to create a lot of rivalries. … It’s going to be a lot of fun. Those are the games that you get up for.”

“It’s definitely going to be a little bit tougher when it comes to in-game situations just because you’re playing the same team eight times,” Zucker said. “So you’re going to have to try to find ways to mix things up and not be predictable in so many different areas of the game, whether that’s breakouts, power plays, penalty kills, neutral zone transitions, (offensive) zone play. Pretty much every facet of the game, you’re going to have to try mix up in some way. Playing a team eight times — when typically within your division, it’s five — you’re making sure you’re changing things a lot.”

Familiarity will breed contempt, especially in the East Division, the only of the NHL’s four divisions that is restricted to a single time zone.

“It’s going to be fun,” defenseman Kris Letang said. “It’s going to create more rivalries and emotion will probably be higher because of what happened the night before. It can translate to the next game. And obviously, you play (only division opponents) so every game will be super important. It will raise a lot of intensity.”

Follow the Penguins all season long.