2013 NHL Schedule Released: Opening Day Features Penguins-Flyers, Kings-Hawks

What's the only thing better than an NHL rivalry game?

Nineteen NHL rivalry games. All in one weekend.

The newly rebuilt National Hockey League, now equipped with a functioning CBA and signed Memorandum of Understanding, released the schedule for its 48-game 2013 season late Saturday night.

It's more than juicy enough to make fans drool for this weekend to be over.

The upcoming campaign will kick off with the Pittsburgh Penguins visiting the Philadelphia Flyers and the Chicago Blackhawks traveling to play the Los Angeles Kings at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 19.

The Flyers and Penguins will renew their cross-Pennsylvania rivalry, while the Kings will finally raise their Stanley Cup banner, seven months after winning it last June. NBC will televise both games on a divided-continent basis.

NBC will then kick off its traditional Sunday afternoon broadcasts with the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres playing at noon on Jan. 20.

Canadian viewers will see Ottawa at Winnipeg, Toronto at Montreal and Anaheim at Vancouver on Saturday. NHL Network subscribers will also see the Rangers visit Boston on Saturday and host Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The full slate of opening weekend action can be seen below. For the complete regular-season schedule, which runs until Saturday, Apr. 27, see the NHL.com website.

Mark Jones has been a Bleacher Report featured columnist since 2009. He has written more than 450 articles and received over 800,000 reads. 

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