The Bruins’ 2026-27 schedule is finally complete, and the national TV slate helped shine a light on a handful of road dates that jump off the page. Boston’s 84-game regular season includes 20 total appearances on TNT, ESPN and ABC, with NESN carrying the rest - plus two national simulcasts. But the games that stand out most are the ones away from home, where familiar faces, big names and a late-season trip through Florida make the calendar a little more interesting.
The first one that pops is Tuesday, Oct. 13 in San Jose, an 11:00 PM start that sends the Bruins to California early in the season. It will also be Charlie McAvoy’s first game back in the lineup after he serves a six-game suspension for slashing Zach Benson during Game 6 of the first round.
The Sharks have become one of the league’s more intriguing young teams, with Macklin Celebrini and Lexington native Will Smith leading the way. Celebrini, just 19, posted 115 points last season - 45 goals and 70 assists - to set a single-season franchise record and become the sixth teenager ever to reach 100 points.
San Jose also had Boston’s number last year, winning both meetings and snapping the Bruins’ 13-game home winning streak in the second one. That game closes out 16 straight during ESPN’s Frozen Frenzy, though local fans will still get it on NESN.
A little deeper into the schedule, the Bruins head to Detroit on Wednesday, Nov. 18 for a 7:30 PM start on TNT, and that one carries a familiar face in Viktor Arvidsson. He spent last season in Boston, scoring 25 goals in a black and gold sweater, before leaving in July for a two-year deal worth $10 million, with a $5 million AAV.
Arvidsson had been reunited with Marco Sturm last season after their time together in Los Angeles, and now he’ll be playing for Todd McLellan, who was the Kings’ coach during that stretch. There’s also a wrinkle with Dylan Larkin, who asked for a trade this summer but is expected to be at Red Wings training camp, though that situation is still worth watching before the Bruins’ first meeting with Detroit.
On Saturday, Jan. 23, Boston goes to Utah at 9:00 PM for another road game with a personal edge.
The Bruins will have already hosted the Mammoth on Oct. 8, but the second meeting means more for JJ Peterka, who is making his first trip back to Utah after spending just one season there before being dealt at the draft for two first-round picks. Peterka finished last season with 47 points - 25 goals and 22 assists - after putting up 68 points in Buffalo the year before, and his power-play role dropped noticeably in Utah compared with his time with the Sabres.
Boston did not send out a player in that deal, but the Bruins will also see Andrew Peeke again after he signed a one-year deal with Utah on July 3. The teams split last season’s series, with the home team winning both games and the finale getting chippy.
The March stretch brings one of the biggest names in the sport. On Friday, March 26, the Bruins visit Washington at 7:00 PM, and Alex Ovechkin will once again be the center of attention.
The 40-year-old has not said whether this will be his final season, but the retirement talk will hang around as long as he’s on one-year deals in Washington. If he does hang it up, this could be Boston’s last crack at the NHL’s all-time goal scorer.
Ovechkin has 929 career goals, including 30 against the Bruins, along with 31 assists in 72 games. The Capitals also added Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou this summer, and they have Logan Thompson in goal, the only netminder to finish above Jeremy Swayman in GSAx last season.
The schedule closes with a brutal Florida back-to-back: Friday, April 9 in Florida against Brad Marchand, the Tkachuk brothers and the Panthers, then Saturday, April 10 in Tampa Bay against Andrei Vasilevskiy and Nikita Kucherov. The Bruins will see Marchand in the 83rd game of the season, and Florida is expected to be right back in the mix after a year out of the postseason.
The Panthers also added Radko Gudas and Garnet Hathaway, which only adds more edge to that matchup. Then it’s on to Tampa, where the Lightning are chasing their 10th straight playoff berth and both they and Florida are expected to be in the division race.
Boston had a rough time against both teams last season, going 0-2-2 in the Sunshine State and 0-5-2 overall against the Panthers and Lightning. Those four points won’t come easy, and they could end up carrying a lot of weight if the Bruins are still fighting for a playoff spot.
In Other News...
Bruins Get An Early Warning Sign About Where This Team Is Headed
An early look at the 2027 NHL draft landscape is not exactly flattering for Boston, and it hints at where the Bruins may be headed if the current trajectory holds. The projection suggests a season in which they land outside the playoff field and wind up in the bottom third of the league, a sharp reminder that the gap between staying competitive and sliding backward can close fast in this sport.
There is at least a little draft-side intrigue mixed into the concern, because Boston is also slated to add another first-rounder in the deal with Toronto. Even so, the larger takeaway is the one Bruins fans would rather avoid: the Maple Leafs are being forecast as the stronger playoff bet, while Boston is staring at a much rougher path and the kind of reset that can show up in the standings long before it shows up in the draft room. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Fans Have Real Reason To Watch Connor Hellebuyck Now
Connor Hellebuycks trade situation has suddenly become one of the more intriguing storylines in the NHL, and Bruins fans have a legitimate reason to keep an eye on it. The Winnipeg Jets goalie has been part of the leagues upper tier for a while now, and his recent play, along with his Olympic success, only adds to the appeal for any team looking for a proven answer in net.
Boston is among the clubs that will be watching closely as the market starts to take shape, because a goalie of Hellebuycks caliber can alter the balance in a hurry. The bigger question now is where the bidding goes from here, and whether the Bruins end up with a real path to get involved while other interested teams begin to circle. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Sixth-Round Pick Is Forcing A Faster Rise Than Expected
Kirill Yemelyanov was supposed to be the kind of later-round Bruins pick who could take his time climbing the ladder, but his early run in Russia has made that path look a little shorter than expected. The 2025 sixth-rounder has already been noticeable in the MHL and has carried that momentum into early KHL preseason work with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, where his usage alone says plenty about how quickly he is earning trust.
Yemelyanov has handled center responsibility well enough to keep pushing his case for a larger role, and his development has already turned some heads inside a system that tends to reward patience. After a strong 2025-26 stretch in the MHL, his trajectory now points toward a full KHL season sooner rather than later, which is the sort of progress Boston always wants to see from a pick that came with upside rather than certainty. [Read more 🡒]