NHL: Boston Bruins Will Open 2011-12 Season and Raise Cup Banner vs. Flyers

The Boston Bruins are Stanley Cup champions for the first time in 39 years, and on October 6 they will raise their sixth championship banner to the rafters of the TD Garden. 

The Bruins will open up their season against the Philadelphia Flyers, who they swept out of the 2011 NHL playoffs in the Eastern Conference semifinals. 

It will be the second time the TD Garden has hosted a banner raising ceremony since the building opened after the historic Boston Garden was demolished in 1995. The Celtics were the first when they raised their 2008 NBA champions banner in October of 2009. 

Boston will play seven of its first 10 games at home, and during that stretch will host the rival Montreal Canadiens as well as top NHL contenders like the San Jose Sharks and the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The Bruins will travel to Winnipeg twice in the upcoming season to play the NHL’s newest franchise, which has re-located to Canada after not succeeding as the Atlanta Thrashers. 

The Bruins end the 2011-12 season at home against the Buffalo Sabres on April 7, 2012.

Nicholas Goss is a Boston Bruins featured columnist for Bleacher Report and was the organization's on-site reporter for the Stanley Cup Finals in Boston. Follow him on Twitter for Bruins playoff news and analysis.