Bruins Press Release: The National Hockey League announced the 2009-2010 official season schedule today. The Bruins 2009-2010 schedule will see the team play each Northeast Division opponent six times, each of the other Eastern Conference opponents four times, and every Western Conference opponent at least once, with the exception of Anaheim, Chicago and Los Angeles from the West whom the Bruins will each play twice.

The Bruins start their 2009-10 campaign with a five-game homestand and will open their season against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Thursday, October 1 at 7:00 p.m. at the TD Garden. These five straight games at home mark the longest stretch of its kind on the B’s schedule.

The club’s busiest month game-wise will be March, when they play 16 games in 31 days. Nine of the 16 games are on the road, which includes a season-long seven-game road trip that will take the Black & Gold to Long Island, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Philadelphia, Montreal, New Jersey and Carolina. 15 of the 16 games in the month are against Eastern Conference teams with the Calgary Flames the lone Western Conference foe on the March slate.

Other schedule highlights include the Winter Classic against the Philadelphia Flyers, which will be played on New Year’s Day at Fenway Park in Boston at 12:30 p.m., and home matinee tilts with the Colorado Avalanche on Columbus Day (10/12) at 1:00 p.m., the New Jersey Devils on the day-after-Thanksgiving (11/27) at 12:00 noon, and the Ottawa Senators on Martin Luther King Day (1/18) at 1:00 p.m.

The Western Conference teams slated to visit the TD Garden this season are the Anaheim Ducks (10/8), Colorado Avalanche (10/12), Nashville Predators (10/21), Edmonton Oilers (10/31), Chicago Blackhawks (1/7), Columbus Blue Jackets (1/21), Los Angeles Kings (1/30), Vancouver Canucks (2/6), and the Calgary Flames (3/27).

The Bruins will host the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins two times, first on Tuesday, November 10 at 7:00 p.m. and then again on Thursday, March 18 at 7:00 p.m.