NHL Drops Puck Thursday
- Wednesday, October 6, 2010 10:05 PM
- Written By: Josh Marks
(Picture credit: Lake Fong, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
The temperature is dropping outside and that means it's heating up inside NHL arenas across North America.
On Thursday the 2010-2011 season kicks off with festivities at Yonge-Dundas Square -- Toronto's Times Square.
But before the NHL Network's live coverage from Dundas Square at 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time there is the first game to be played in Helsinki, Finland at 12 p.m. EDT between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Minnesota Wild. The team from Minneapolis-St. Paul will hope to have better luck than the Twins did against the Yankees at Target Field last night. The game will be broadcast live on Versus.
The marquee matchups are later in the evening as the Pittsburgh Penguins play the first game at their new arena against Stanley Cup finalists and cross-state rivals the Philadelphia Flyers. The Consol Energy Center (pictured above) in downtown Pittsburgh is the first Leadership in Environmental Design (LEED) gold-certified facility in the NHL. We'll see if the new building can energize the Pens on to victory over the Flyers. The game starts at 7 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast live on Versus.
At 10 p.m. EDST Versus switches to Denver where the Colorado Avalanche will be hosting the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks as the rejiggered team -- no Dustin Byfuglen, Brent Sopel, Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg, Antti Niemi, John Madden, Ben Eager and Adam Burish -- begins its title defense against a tough Western Division opponent with one of the best goaltenders in Craig Anderson.
So get ready for what should be an exciting season.
