PRAGUE -- Hello hockey fans.
Well, it's a lot easier putting the blog together after a big win, especially the season opener. We were excited in the locker room prior to heading out onto the ice for pregame warmups. The message was, "It's been a long offseason, so let's get this going and enjoy the ride."
Honestly, at times it's a little bit confusing, because, with [Ondrej Palat] on our squad, we kind of feel like a home team, and we also have [Patrik Elias] on the bench so we feel a little bit like the home team when we were away today, but I thought the atmosphere was good, the energy was good, and it was fun to play.
I thought the moment of silence for Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau was an emotional moment. I mean every time you see it, it's weird, it's just still weird to see it. I'm sure that's not the last time their pictures are going to be up on a jumbotron and it's just so sad. You're really still just in disbelief.
I thought we did a lot of good things. We certainly did enough to win the game. I thought we had a solid start. We had a little lull in the first period there but then getting that first goal (by Stefan Noesen) kind of gave us a little jump. We finished the period pretty strong.
I felt (goalie) Jacob Markstrom played well. Whenever we seemed like we had a little bit of a lull or weren't at our best, he settled us down and made some key saves at key times. We certainly can get better. It certainly wasn't a perfect game, and nobody expects that, but we did enough good things to get two points and that's a great start for us.
We have a short turnaround with the next game on Saturday afternoon. But a short turnaround is good after a win. We'll go back to the hotel, get some rest, then wake up and go over some things and get ready to play another game. I personally like it. Hopefully, after another win, we can enjoy some friends and family, so I think we're all looking forward to that.
