Last season, the Dallas Stars dropped their first game of the season, despite everyone heavily predicting the Stars to win.
It was the first game for the Golden Knights franchise, and expansion teams have traditionally been awful. It should’ve been an easy opening night win for the Stars.
The Golden Knights were different, though. They were the first expansion team in the salary cap era, meaning they ended up with players who were still good right now, but who were on contracts that could quickly become awful.
There’s nothing to deflate a fanbase and a team like losing the season opener to a brand new expansion team.