The NHL Season Has Begun
Ryan D’Amico
Staff Writer
The NHL 2024 season opener was set for October 8, 2024, bringing back the excitement every fan has been waiting for and players alike as the league takes on another long, hard-fought season. This year’s opener games will feature exciting matchups between the Buffalo Sabers and NJ Devils playing their first two games early in Prague, Czech Republic part of the Global Series. Later on, the 8th we saw St. Louis at Seattle to play the Kraken in a close game finishing with an STL win 3-2. The next game has been sort of a rivalry the past few seasons between the Bruins and Panthers. With the Panthers being at home and taking the win 6-4. And with the final game on the night the Chicago Blackhawks took on the new franchise, the Utah Hockey Club, name pending, and lost giving Utah its first franchise win 5-2.
The whole week was filled with great matchups allowing every team to jump into the season. Some quick matchups were Winnipeg vs Edmonton with Winnipeg taking the game 6-0, Rangers vs the Penguins and the Rangers dominating 6-0, and two crazy games between Calgary and Vancouver, and Colorado vs Vegas with the Calgary winning 6-5 in OT, and Vegas winning 8-4.
To jump back to the new franchise, Utah, started the season beating the Blackhawks, Islanders, and Rangers in close interesting games but took their first loss of the organization against the NJ Devils losing 3-0. To stay around some local teams, the Devils, Rangers, and Flyers into the season so far are 7-5 from the Devils, 7-2 from the Rangers, and the Flyers are 4-7. The Rangers are looking to take a deep playoff run like last year, and with the Devils they want to get back to the team they were a season before all the injuries last year. Although the Panthers who are coming from the championship are 9-3, the Winnipeg Jets are 10-1, and the Washington Capitols and Vegas Knights are both 8-2 these are just some of the top teams in the league for the moment.
Throughout the opening day and a few weeks these games looked more exciting than ever. With every game being played within one or two scores and multiple overtime games. Which is exciting for hockey fans as the season is far from finished waiting to see who comes out on top for the Stanley Cup.
Contact Ryan at ryan.damico@student.shu.edu