YESSIR. YES MA’AM. YES WHATEVER YOU ARE. The most holy of unofficial and unrecognized holidays is finally here. The NHL season is more back than Texas Football or Quasimodo will ever be, and it kicks off TONIGHT in The Big Guava. Just four teams competing in two games on opening night. For the first time since the ’04-’05 lockout, you can find them on ESPN. Mixed feelings about the ESPN partnership, but for now, we’ll file it under: “Let’s See How This Pans Out”.
I quickly got the four teams together for some chit chat about the openers tonight. Below is a snippet of the trash talk that was captured:
PIT Penguins @ TB Lightning – 7:30p EST
The Penguins are travelling to Tampa for the kickoff the NHL season tonight. While Tampa is the current home of Lord Stanley’s Cup, and has been for the past two years, we can be sure Pittsburgh will put up a fight. They won their (albeit wonky setup) division last season, and they’re not a team that lays down very often. With that being said, however, Crosby, Malkin, and Guentzel are all OUT for the Penguins, and for those reasons, so am I. Lightning take this 4-1 to pick up right where they left off.
SEA Kraken @ VGS Golden Knight – 10:00p EST
The NHL season is back, and with it comes a new team this year. The Kraken name and branding have been around since the summer of 2020, but tonight will be their inaugural regular season game. What better place to kick things off than Sin City, USA?? I’m sure Seattle wishes it was against the likes of Detroit or Buffalo. But those are just no fun to travel to or celebrate in, now are they? The Knights are perennial contenders, so I think being dethroned as the NKOTB will be the only thing they lose tonight. Knights win a thriller, 3-2, but Seattle will celebrate the night in Vegas nonetheless.
I, personally, have nothing to shamelessly plug. Check out all of Belly Up’s pages and podcasts, I promise you will find something you enjoy. I may re-enter the Twitter-verse. May not. I will more than likely start a youtube channel to follow/react to the NHL season, so stay tuned for that. Until then, I’m ZachMac, enjoy the games tonight and cheers to this being THE YEAR for whatever team you call yours. Peace!
