Will Kelley and Kel MacDowell
Staff Writers
The 2017-2018 NHL season was one for the
books, The Las Vegas Golden Knights, a first-year team ended up making the
playoffs, and then the Stanley Cup. The Knights fell short in the Cup to the
Washington Capitals, where Conn Smythe winner (Most valuable player), Alexander
Ovechkin made a historic playoff run with 15 goals and 12 assists, totaling 27
points, the third highest point total for a playoff run in NHL History. Many
were excited to see the Capitals bring back the cup to the nation's capital,
but some were not. Washington knocked off the Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh
Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning before reaching Vegas in the finals. All these
teams have made offseason moves that have benefited them greatly and are all
off to a hot start for the 2018-2019 season.
The
2018-2019 NHL season marks the 102nd NHL regular season. Teams from the Western
and Eastern conference will battle over a grueling 82-game season and hopefully
have the record that gets them into the playoffs. Currently, the Nashville
Predators run the league with a record of 11-3 and 22 points. However, that can
change at any given time given the amount of games left and the fact that the
Tampa Bay Lightning are only one point behind the Predators. Although this
doesn’t matter that these teams are close, because they are separated by
conference, but some polls suggest that this could be the potential finals
matchup in 2019.
The
NHL has acted in playing a leadership role in today’s world every season.
Monday, Nov. 5, was “Hockey Fights Cancer” night in Pittsburgh. All sports do a
pretty fair job of supporting issues and working to fight diseases. Supporting these
issues makes the league look very good and sets a great example. With the NHL
season in full swing, the stakes are high as last year’s bad teams are turning
their season around and making names for themselves.
