Here we are at another NHL season. I was wondering if Alex Ovechkin and the rest of the party-hearty Washington Capitals had sobered up yet, but they raised their banner Wednesday night, then blew the doors off the Bruins to begin their title defense. Nothing to it.
Then there is the Lightning. It begins its season Saturday, with as much of a chance to win the Cup as anyone.
Like, what else is new?
Six months of forced march lay ahead, the endless regular season.
"It's such a long way off, just in the sense that you're got to play 82 games just to give yourself a chance to get back to the playoffs," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.