Patterns in The 2010-2011 NHL Schedule and Your Road Trip – The Colonel

So with the new regular season NHL schedule out since before the Entry Draft, you have probably had a lot of time to look at it and try and determine what road trips you are looking forward to making in the coming season. Many of you will pick you trip based on your first favorite team playing the team you hate the most or love second best. Some of you might be on the road to reach those barns you have not visited yet. (Is there a better goal than to make it to all 30 arenas? Possibly not…) And others may be picking a road trip to follow your favorite team in your favorite part of the United States or Canada.

There are many ways to pick your favorite trip. We would like to point out two considerations.

One of the things the NHL has done for you is made road tripin’ more economical by shortening those road trips in the last, roughly third of the season. In every case, the majority of games played from about the last 20 – 30 games are played within conference.

Here’s how many games each Eastern Conference team plays closer to home toward season’s end:

ATL – 20 of 22 from 23 FEB to end of season

BOS – 17 of 20 from 1 MAR to end of season

BUF – 18 of 21 from 1 MAR to end of season

CAR – 17 of 20 from 1 MAR to end of season

FLA – 22 of 25 from 19 FEB to end of season

MTL – 18 of 21 from 24 FEB to end of season

NJD – 21 of 23 from 25 FEB to end of season

NYI – 21 of 23 from 21 FEB to end of season

NYR – 20 of 23 from 18 FEB to end of season

OTT – NO games after from 15 FEB to end of season (last 26)

PHI – 21 of 23 from 22 FEB to end of season

PIT – 18 of 20 from 25 FEB to end of season

TBL – 19 of 22 from 25 FEB to end of season

TOR – 32 of 36 from 22 JAN to end of season

WSH – 18 of 23 from 20 FEB to end of season

And here is what you look like out West:

ANA – 23 of 24 from 18 FEB to end of season

CGY – 20 of 22 from 20 FEB to end of season

CHI – 17 of 23 from 21 FEB to end of season

COL – 22 of 23 from 19 FEB to end of season

CBJ – 24 of 29 from 9 FEB to end of season

DAL – 21 of 22 from 22 FEB to end of season

DET – 16 of 20 from 28 FEB to end of season

EDM – 16 of 19 from 1 MAR to end of season

LAK – NO games after from 23 FEB to end of season (last 23)

MIN – 13 of 16 from 8 MAR to end of season

NSH – 26 of 30 from 5 FEB to end of season

PHX – 18 of 20 from 25 FEB to end of season

SJS – NO games after from 25 FEB to end of season (last 20)

STL – 22 of 25 from 19 FEB to end of season

VAN – 18 of 20 from 26 FEB to end of season

This breakdown should also tell you if you are looking to catch that one game teams play against the opposing conference’s teams, be prepared to go in the fall or early winter.

But here at On Goal Analysis, we also like to think out of the box. We like the extraordinary. So follow us on this one…

In its great wisdom, the NHL schedulers provided several back-to-back, home-and-away pairs of games for teams this season. It is not exactly what we have called for in other posts of closing (nay, deciding) the season with four sets of three game playoff-like series against Division rivals over the final five weeks of play. But it does produce many opportunities for not-forgotten battles to rage and re-rage over a very short period of time. Call it the “Little Ball of Hate” tour if we can borrow from Pat Verbeek, or our favorite, 'The Battle Of The Pairs'.

Mind you, I am looking at the schedules in the middle of the night after a long day at work, but here are the pairings I found for Eastern Conference teams from the perspective of the team in bold at left:

ATL: A four-in-a-row turn vs NJD 11 MAR; @ PHI 12 MAR; @ NJD 15 MAR; and vs PHI 17 MAR

BOS: PHX in CZE 9 – 10 OCT; WSH 19 – 21 OCT; CAR 17 – 18 JAN; and DET 11 & 13 FEB

BUF: NYI 21 & 23 JAN

CAR: MIN in FIN 7 – 8 OCT; FLA 5 – 6 NOV; BOS 17 – 18 JAN; and TBL 25 – 26 MAR

FLA: CAR 5 – 6 NOV

MTL: NYI 27 & 29 OCT

NJD: PHI 6 & 8 JAN and TBL 9 & 14 JAN

NYI: MTL 27 & 29 OCT; NYR 2 – 3 DEC; BUF 21 & 23 JAN and WSH 26 FEB & 1 MAR

NYR: NYI 2 – 3 DEC and OTT 5 – 9 DEC

OTT: None

PHI: NJD 6 & 8 JAN

PIT: @ TOR 26 FEB & 2 MAR

TBL: CAR 25 – 26 MAR

TOR: vs PIT 26 FEB & 2 MAR

WSH: BOS 19 & 21 OCT; FLA 8 & 11 JAN; NYI 26 FEB & 1 MAR; and FLA 6 – 9 APR

As you can see, ATL doesn’t have any back-to-back pairs, but they do have an interesting, four game home and away chain versus NJD and PHI.

And while OTT does not have any of these pairings, have a look at the Western Conference teams where the potential for the ‘get-even’ factor will be higher:

ANA: LAK 8 – 9 APR

CGY: MIN 18 & 20 DEC and STL 27 FEB & 1 MAR

CHI: COL 13 & 15 DEC; NSH 15 – 16 JAN; and DET 8 & 10 APR

COL: CHI 13 & 15 DEC and DAL 7 – 8 APR

CBJ: SJS in SWE 8 – 9 OCT; DET 26 & 28 NOV; DET 14 – 15 JAN; and STL 7 & 9 MAR

DAL: ANA 12 & 16 NOV; STL 26 – 27 NOV; SJS 13 & 16 DEC; and COL 7 – 8 APR

DET: CBJ 26 & 28 NOV; CBJ 14 – 15 JAN; BOS 11 & 13 FEB; and CHI 8 & 10 APR

EDM: VAN 2 & 5 APR

LAK: PHX 20 & 22 JAN; ANA 8 – 9 APR

MIN: CAR in FIN 7 – 8 OCT; CGY 18 & 20 DEC; STL 11 – 12 FEB; and STL 26 & 29 MAR

NSH: CHI 15 – 16 JAN

PHX: BOS in CZE 9 – 10 OCT; LAK 20 & 22 JAN; and SJS 8 – 9 APR

SJS: CBJ in SWE 8 – 9 OCT and PHX 8 – 9 APR

STL: CHI 18 & 22 OCT; DAL 26 – 27 NOV; MIN 11 – 12 FEB; CGY 27 FEB & 1 MAR; CBJ 7 & 9 MAR; and MIN 26 & 29 MAR

VAN: EDM 2 & 5 APR

So maybe you cannot get to the European matches. That’s OK. Try any one of the 11 intra-divisional match-ups in the West. Or go see CHI and COL because of the youth and speed movement on both teams. Or catch STL, the grand champion awardee of the Battle of The Pairs this season with six pairs of back-to-backs, home-and-aways. Or, or, or…

While we still advocate scheduling things to end the season with four of the final, five weeks as intra-divisional, three-game mini-series, there is still lots of opportunity to either travel within your own part of the country from mid- to late-February onward or catch one or more of the 67 Battles of ‘The Pairs.’
Which way are you headed this season?

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