Pay enough attention to the NHL schedule and it will reward you with some repeated threads. Such has been the case around this time of year for the Pittsburgh Penguins. After their Christmas break last year, the Pens came back to play the Islanders on the road on December 27, 2022. Fast forward a year and the Penguins also started out after this year’s Christmas break on December 27, 2023 with a game in Long Island.
The schedule quirks are about where the similarities end.
Last year around this time, Pittsburgh was 19-9-5 entering the holiday and one of the best teams in the division and conference to open up the 2022-23 campaign.