The National Hockey League released its schedule for all 31 teams on Wednesday for the upcoming 2020-21 season with three weeks to go until opening night on Wednesday, Jan. 13.
Along with this announcement, the Buffalo Sabres released their 56-game schedule for the abridged 2020-21 season, which will open on Thursday, Jan. 14 against the Washington Capitals at KeyBank Center.
Under the conditions of the 2020-21 season agreed upon by the NHL and the NHL Players' Association, the Sabres will play the entire regular season schedule against teams only in the newly re-aligned East Division.
Here are the teams the Sabres will face in the East Division:
- Boston Bruins
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- New York Rangers
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Washington Capitals
The Sabres will face the other seven teams in their division a total of eight times this season, and, for the most part, will play each team in two-game increments in one city.
After the Sabres open the 2020-21 season against the Capitals on Jan. 14, they will host the Capitals again the very next day in Buffalo.
Buffalo will then head on the road for its first road trip of the season with a two-game set against the Flyers on Monday, Jan. 18 and Tuesday, Jan. 19 at Well Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The team will then play the Capitals again in Washington for a pair of games before returning home to face the Rangers on Tuesday, Jan. 26 and Thursday, Jan. 28.
The Sabres will only play five times this season where they face a team once in a given portion of the schedule. Those games include:
- Tuesday, March 2: at New York Rangers
- Tuesday, March 9: at Philadelphia Flyers
- Tuesday, March 16: at New Jersey Devils
- Monday, March 22: at New York Rangers
- Sunday, April 11: at Philadelphia Flyers
However, the schedule will feature one three-game set against the Devils in the month of April. The first game on Tuesday, April 6 will take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, and the last two games will take place in Buffalo on Thursday, April 8 and Friday, April 9.
Buffalo's final game before the NHL Trade Deadline on Monday, April 12 will come the day before on Sunday, April 11 against the Flyers.
Finally, the Sabres will wrap up the 2020-21 regular season with a two-game road trip to Pittsburgh to play the Penguins on Thursday, May 6 and Saturday, May 8 at PPG Paints Arena.
In total, the Sabres will have eight series against teams where they play on back-to-back nights.
As part of the schedule, Buffalo will have a number of four-game stretches at home and on the road this season with no extended homestands or road trips. However, Buffalo will play at home six times in a stretch of seven games from March 29 to April 9.
All game times this season will be announced at a later date.
When regular season play has completed, the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs will feature the top-four teams in each division qualifying, with each division also producing a champion for the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The third round matchups will be seeded based on regular season points.
The Sabres have not been to the playoffs since 2011, where they lost in seven games to the Flyers in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
If the Sabres do miss out on the NHL postseason in 2021, the franchise will match the NHL record for the longest playoff drought of 10-consecutive seasons with the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.
You can listen to all 56 games this season on the radio home of the Buffalo Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.