The new 84-game NHL schedule will, in some ways, benefit the Pittsburgh Penguins, especially since the team will travel about half as many miles as last season. There will be no overseas trips or frantic weeks spent making up lost time. Even through some awkward back-to-backs and mismatched road trips like Raleigh to Montreal, there is plenty of fun to be had for Penguins fans willing to brave the current sticker shock of airline prices.
Oh, those prices are going to take a chunk out of PHN, for sure.
Unfortunately, the NHL packed some of the best roadies into just two trips this year. There are some weird one-offs like St. Louis, with no corresponding second in the Central Division, and one of the Montreal trips is buffered by a preceding game in Raleigh, which almost negates the possibility of easy travel for anyone but the team.
Of course, there is the typical California trip, but LA’s current downtown scene makes it one we can’t recommend to the average hockey traveler. If you love Anaheim and Disneyland, go for it, but LA…at least the sunshine is nice.
Yet through the very different schedule for the 2026-27 season, the NHL did gift the Penguins some extra time in our favorite cities. Viva Las Vegas. For the purposes of the best road trips, we’ll skip past the basic trips like Columbus, Buffalo, Philly, and Washington, D.C. Actually, PHN has lost several of our favorite hotels in those cities and has had to make do with budget-conscious options that we’ll not recommend for fans on a pleasure trip … unless you like seeing people lounging barefoot in the lobby, or drawing the shades and staying in the room waiting for Door Dash (I’m looking at you, New York Islanders).
Nope, we’ll make some strong recommendations for trips, including one that every hockey fan should take at least once.
Best Penguins Road Trips
5-4-3. Chicago-Denver-Vegas-Utah
Right out of the gate, October 13-19 is the best trip of the season. Chicago? Yes, please. You can drive out because it’s much shorter than you think. There’s even an overnight Amtrak from Pittsburgh to Chicago.
Now, the United Center isn’t in the greatest location. It was just two seasons ago that the security guard stopped me from taking the L around midnight with a firm suggestion: “No, bud, you want an Uber.” So, set aside a few bucks for the in-city travel.
When in Chicago, skip the tourist pizza because, well, it’s awful. Chicago pizza is sauce cake. I don’t get it, don’t like it, moving on. Instead, go straight for Italian beef, and, again, blow off the touristy recommendations on Yelp. Find Luke’s Italian Beef. It’s a little shop just a couple of doors up from the original Giordano’s. Get the hot peppers on your sammich. It’s spectacular.
And go find the original Billy Goat’s Tavern. It’s downtown but not easy to find because it’s actually below N. Michigan Ave. I wandered around for half an hour trying to find it before seeing the steps and exclaiming, “Cheezborger, Cheezborger. No Coke. Pepsi!”
There’s one location near the arena, which I thought was the original, but the actual OG, where Akroyd, Belushi, Murray, and the crew hung out, is downtown. They haven’t updated anything since they entered pop culture lore:
Denver: It’s a tough call to recommend Denver because it’s become quite expensive to stay in the city, but it is a great stop and one of the best nights out on the circuit. Usually, I struggle with budget-acceptable hotels in the city, but if cost isn’t an issue, Union Station is the area with the easiest walk to the barn, and downtown Denver is essentially a giant mall with trolley and bus service. It’s quite convenient.
Now, the Denver airport is so extremely isolated from the city (isn’t that right, Illuminati?) that there’s a train running back and forth to downtown. It’s about a 40-minute ride, so plan accordingly, but it’s convenient.
There are two must-stops in Denver, at least for this greasy spoon aficionado. First, Sam’s No. 3 Diner. The portions are plate-filling, old-school, hearty handshake-type Americana, and the green sauce is what you need to slather on everything. Then, a block away is the Tarantula Pool Hall, which takes me back to my carny roots. It has good beer specials and has held this writer hostage on a few nights. There are plenty of spots in Denver, including some rooftop bars with champagne vending machines, but those two are the ones that keep me coming back.
Vegas: I could write a book. The T-Mobile Arena is situated near the airport and about 20 hotels, so stay at whichever childish or faux luxury theme strikes your fancy. Unfortunately, two major corporations have taken over the Vegas Strip, and they don’t care if you stay to eat or where you gamble because they’ve got you, no matter where you go. Those dastardly thieves have scrubbed the days of Prime Rib and $1.99 midnight specials.
There are some hidden treasures still remaining on the Las Vegas Strip, and I hate to give them up, but I will bequeath my locals’ knowledge and share with you the spots that don’t make your credit card hurl a string of unprintable epithets and your taste buds merely shrug.
Bautista’s Hole in the Wall is vintage Vegas awesomeness. Nestled behind the Flamingo, it delivers free table wine and fantastic chicken parm. The same goes for Ellis Island, which still has the off-menu sirloin special, also very good Italian dishes, and a quaint little casino that still offers low minimums and single-deck blackjack. They remodeled it a few years ago, but it still has some of that sorely missed old Vegas charm.
Sadly, those two bloodlusting sportsbook corporations have largely got you trapped on the Strip (even my slice at NY NY is now $7?!), so cheap and fun Vegas is downtown on Fremont, seven miles away (but even they just closed my absolute favorite Italian spot at the El Cortez Hotel—which was started by Bugsy Siegel—in favor of a high-priced steakhouse).
If you can, get a local (or me) to take you to Herb & Rye Steakhouse, too. Go after 9 p.m., and it’s about $35 for the steak of your dreams in an old Vegas haunt.
Utah: It’s beautiful. You’re surrounded by snow-capped mountains and disarmingly friendly folks. Get a dirty soda somewhere, but don’t be disappointed because “dirty soda” doesn’t mean what you think it means. There’s no alcohol in it.
Salt Lake City is not a party city, as evidenced by the shocking number of children who participated in last year’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities as I arrived on game day. Usually, people falling over their own feet and throwing up on St. Paddy’s aren’t toddlers, eh? The restaurant scene in SLC is quite muted, so spend the extra day in Vegas or go skiing, and sleep on the flight home.
Adventurists, here’s one detour for you and my fellow conspiracy nuts: Take the slightly longer drive from Las Vegas through the desert on the Alien Highway and detour past Area 51 up to Salt Lake City. Stop and get the meatloaf at the Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel, NV—basically a trailer park in the middle of the desert—and keep trucking.
Have I told you the story of when I rode a motorcycle the several hours up to the front gate of Area 51 in 125-degree heat, was followed by unmarked SUVs, made it to the top of the mountains where I was buzzed by fighter jets flying so low that the rumble almost knocked me over, but I couldn’t see them, later almost having (or maybe having) a heat stroke on the way back while looking so bloody terrible that the convenience store clerk on the edge of the desert just handed me Gatorades and let me crash out for an hour? No? Moving on…
2-1: The Big One
This season, the schedule makers crammed two roadies into one. Annually, there’s the usual snowbelt trip with Winnipeg and Minnesota, and there’s the western Canada swing with Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, with a dip into the shockingly unsafe Seattle downtown wedged somewhere in between the Canadian towns.
Over the last two years, Seattle unnerved even me, and we’ll leave it at that. However, this season, they are all one gargantuan road trip.
From Feb. 13 to the 23rd, the Penguins trek north, over the mountains, south, back over the mountains to the blistering cold prairie, to Minnesota, and home.
Simply, every hockey fan should make the Calgary-Edmonton trip at least once. Unfortunately, they are split by six days this season, so our advice to fans is to fly into Calgary and take the bus up to Edmonton (or take a connecting flight) for the game on the 13th. Blow off the trip to Seattle and head straight to Vancouver for a couple of days of whale watching, shopping, and dining.
But if you really want to hit ’em all, fly from Edmonton or Calgary to Vancouver on Flair or WestJet, rent a car, and make the easy drive from Vancouver to Seattle and back, then zip back to Calgary.
Oh, Edmonton. The great forgotten and put-down metropolis near the Arctic Circle with park bench statues of Bob and Doug McKenzie, pierogies and donair pizza, and salt-of-the-earth people who absolutely love…LOVE…hockey. The food is blue-collar with plenty of Asian choices. If not for the subzero weather, it is the most similar to Pittsburgh, including being built on a river. Without question, get the goulash at a little Czech spot, Bistro Praha.
And Calgary has some dining. Steak! Alberta beef is the mouth-watering, buttery, almost-melts-on-your-fork best sirloins and filets you can get in North America, if not the world. The Rocky Mountain views are spectacular, and the people are stand-up. One little dining spot that I’ve taken fellow writers to is the Derrick Gin Mill. The steaks are perfection without paying immoderate prices. I have walked and taken the train all over Calgary, and it’s an A+ city, even for travel newbs who want to stop everyone and annoyingly ask for directions. The Derrick was the best meal I had all season, and I think it cost about $25 American.
As for the central part of the trip, it’s about hockey only. I love the people in Winnipeg, but it’s rough sledding in the dead wintry cold of February. Perhaps you have to experience it once just to say you did it, but the frigid, dense air will suck the breath from your chest as the wind rattles your bones. But sadly, it’s a town that’s fighting for its life against an onslaught of imported narcotics and an economy without a bedrock industry. The reason to go is that the fans adore their team, and the game itself is one of the absolute best experiences in the league.
Fortunately, St. Paul has improved over the last three years. My personal recommendation is Gambit Brewing. It’s a chill little bar beneath street level with a pretty darn good golden lager.
If you go to Minnesota, there is a little hotel that was once a convent and seminary college. Now, it’s a little marble palace, the Celeste Hotel. Easily THE most comfortable beds on the NHL schedule.
Honorable Mentions
Montreal: You need to experience a game at Centre Bell. The crowd is unbelievable. St. Catherine’s St. isn’t as amazing as the old sportswriters tell the stories, but you can still find some good-natured trouble if you wish. The 300-year-old architecture and churches are quite a sight, too.
Tampa Bay: It’s hard to recommend Tampa because, like Las Vegas, a couple of developers bought all of the hotels in downtown and decided they’d rather have 25% occupancy at stupid prices instead of 80% occupancy at affordable prices. So, PHN’s favorite little off-brand Riverwalk hotel immediately went from $100-$150 to $300+ per night. Yeah, booo!
Still, Tampa has Eddie & Sam’s Pizza, which imports the water from New York City. And it’s nice to be able to walk around downtown during the winter months, feeling warm sunshine without a giant wool coat. There are plenty of coffee shops, and even a bar near the arena that is full-on 1980s, with Pong and everything a Gen X kid would collect. Unironically, it’s called 1983. The hotel problem is just too much to put Tampa on the list.
Florida: The weather is great. Tickets are attainable. Stay at the beach, rent a car, drive to the game where there is free parking, and then return to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. Sunrise, the area where the Florida Panthers’ arena is located, is definitely not a destination, nor are there quality hotels—much to the chagrin of players league-wide.
Detroit: Yes, formerly beleaguered, dangerous, crime-ridden Detroit has been cleaned up courtesy of a few hometown billionaires, such as Roger Penske. Detroit is actually quite nice. There are some lovely bars and restaurants around Grand Circus Park, which is a few blocks from Little Caesars Arena, including Le Suprême, a warmly designed, quaint little eatery and bar with stained glass and rich woods. At night, it’s a dimly lit French restaurant and cocktail bar. Guys, if you take a special other, go there. You’re welcome.
And for us greasy spoon types, there are two competing Coney Island diners. Go to American Coney Island because the other one has had some recent troubles with the health department.
For the squeamish, I have walked all around Detroit without issue or fear. That wasn’t the case in 2008. But Penske, especially, has opened his wallet to revive the town, and it’s waiting for people to notice. ‘
Just hold tight on I-75 between Toledo and Detroit. Between the craters on the roadway and drivers with nothing left to lose, it’s a demolition derby befitting the Fayette County Fair.
I’ll see you on the road.
Categorized:Pittsburgh Penguins