More highlights from the 2012-13 Philadelphia Flyers schedule

The NHL announced the schedule for next season earlier today, and we learned that the Philadelphia Flyers season will, CBA pending, open on October 11 with a home game against the Boston Bruins. But that’s not the only highlight of the schedule. Let’s take a look at some of the other key dates across the 82 game year.

• The Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Minnesota Wild, Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers all visit the Wells Fargo Center this season from the West.
• The Flyers will travel west to face the Blackhawks, Sharks, Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets, Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks.
• Winnipeg comes to town for the Black Friday game this season at 3 p.m. on Friday, November 23. The Flyers hit the road for a five-game road trip (all in the Eastern Time Zone) after that game.
• The annual Christmas road trip happens again this year, as the Flyers will be displaced from the WFC due to Disney On Ice. The trip begins December 23 with a game in Ottawa, and they’ll travel to Nashville, St. Louis, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Jose and Vancouver before returning to Philly to host the Canadiens on January 10. It’s the longest road trip of the season.
• The coolest potential part of the road trip? No, not the road trip possibilities to the Music City. No, not the game in Los Angeles against Richie & Co. It’s the game in Phoenix on New Year’s Eve. The 9 p.m. ET start means the Flyers could be wrapping up a win just as we celebrate the start of 2013 here in Philly.
• Lengthy homestands: Five games from February 21 to March 1, four games from February 2 to February 9, and a three-gamer to close the season in which the Flyers host Pittsburgh, Ottawa and the Rangers. There are two other three game homestands as well.
• According to Dirk Hoag’s NHL Super Schedule over at On the Forecheck, the Flyers travel the fewest miles in the NHL in 2012-13. They’ll log 27,143 miles during the entire season — that’s roughly 3,000 fewer than the New York Islanders, the closest team to them on the list. They ranked seventh-best in the NHL a year ago with 34,193 miles traveled during the regular season. The league average this year is 39,792 miles, and Dallas is again saddled with the worst travel schedule in the NHL, logging 49,951 miles over the course of the season.
• Philadelphia will play 15 sets back-to-back games though, according to the Super Schedule, and that’s good for second-most in the league. Four teams — including the Devils and Islanders — play 16 sets of back-to-back games.

A look at the schedule against each Atlantic Division team plus a full schedule grid can be found below.

• Six games against Pittsburgh: October 18, February 12, February 20, March 24, March 26 (home-and-home), April 9.
• Six games against New Jersey: November 1, December 11, December 19, December 21 (home-and-home), February 15, March 13.
• Six games against the Rangers: November 4, November 24, January 12, February 17, February 25, April 13.
• Six games against the Islanders: October 13, November 29, December 8, December 9 (home-and-home), March 1, March 28.