Game Preview: 09.30.26 at Philadelphia Flyers

The Penguins open the 2026-27 season with a matchup against their cross-state rival, the Philadelphia Flyers, at 7 PM at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

TUNE-IN

• Watch: TNT
• Listen: 105.9 The X and the Penguins app

THE MATCHUP

• This marks the ninth time overall that the Penguins have opened the season against Philadelphia. Pittsburgh is 3-4-1 (W-L-T) all-time in season-opening games versus Philadelphia.
• The Penguins went 2-0-2 in the regular season against the Flyers in 2025-26, and fell to them in Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, 4-2.
• Pittsburgh has points in 13 of their last 15 games against Philadelphia (9-2-4).
• The Penguins are 13-3-4 in their last 20 regular-season games against the Flyers going back to May 4, 2021.

QUICK HITS

• Forwards David Gustafsson, Hendrix Lapierre, and Nick Robertson, and defensemen Declan Carlile, Kaedan Korczak and Trevor van Riemsdyk are looking to make their Penguins debuts.
• Pittsburgh has points in 10 of its last 15 season-opening games (9-5-1).  
• Bryan Rust has 31 points (13G-18A) in 39 career games against Philadelphia, which includes 16 points in his last 12 games (6G-10A). 
• Since entering the league in 2006-07, no defenseman has more points against the Flyers than Kris Letang (56). He has points in 16 of his last 25 games (5G-15A) against Philadelphia. His plus-31 versus the Flyers is tied for second in NHL history behind Bobby Orr (+37).  
• Evgeni Malkin (32G-67A) is one point shy of becoming just the sixth player in NHL history to notch 100 or more points against the Flyers. He’s looking to join Sidney Crosby (139), Mario Lemieux (124), Jaromir Jagr (120), Bryan Trottier (117) and Wayne Gretzky (100).

OPENING NIGHT ROSTER

Regarding the opening-night roster, Penguins Assistant GM Jason Spezza said he understands that people want some finality at the end of training camp about what the team will look like all year. But that’s not the case, as plenty of younger players are pushing for time, whether now or later.

“I think there's going to be plenty of opportunities for young guys to establish themselves as NHL players as the year goes on,” Spezza said. “But we know we want to inject youth into the lineup. We have to. We have to make sure we do it when guys are ready, and when they're going to help the team.”

That said, here’s a look at how the Penguins have been lining up with the personnel they currently have at each position:

Nick Robertson-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Evgeni Malkin
Filip Hallander-Hendrix Lapierre-Ville Koivunen
Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Elmer Soderblom

Declan Carlile-Erik Karlsson
Trevor van Riemsdyk-Kris Letang
Sam Girard-Kaedan Korczak

Penguins Team Reporter Michelle Crechiolo has more here.

AWAY GAME TRIGGERS