Chicago Blackhawks: Home opener presents a major challenge

It has been a very long time since the Chicago Blackhawks played at the United Center with a sold-out building. Now, they are finally going to have that opportunity tonight against the New York Islanders. It will be their first home game of the season and one that is very important. They need to get that first win of the season as soon as possible.

Things haven’t been good for them in the early going. They are 0-2-1 after losses to the Colorado Avalanche, New Jersey Devils, and Pittsburgh Penguins. They need to get this turned around quickly. People are already turning on Jeremy Colliton as the head coach and it isn’t going to go away any time soon.

Well, their home opener isn’t going to be easy by any means. The New York Islanders are legit Stanley Cup contenders right now They are coming to Chicago without their first win as well. Somehow, they are 0-2-0 after two losses to the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.

The Islanders are an elite team but two other elite teams got the best of them in the early stages of the season. Not only are they an elite team, but you’d also assume they are an angry team as well. That is not good news for the Chicago Blackhawks.

There are some new veterans on the Islanders team. Guys like Zach Parise and Zdeno Chara were brought in to try and bring their experience to this team and get them over the hump. They have been close to reaching the Stanley Cup Final for a few years in a row now and they like their chances this year.

The Chicago Blackhawks are finally back at the United Center in front of fans.

As mentioned before, it has been a while since the Hawks welcomed in fans at full capacity. The last time was against the San Jose Sharks on March 11th, 2020. The very next day, the season was paused and eventually canceled due to COVID-19. Now, all these months later, lots of fans will be able to watch the team once again.

There were only two games last season that allowed fans and there were only about 3,000 people there anyway. Now, add a lot more to that which should really pump up the team. They need it as bad as a team can need a boost three games into the season.

The team is good. They have made a lot of changes to their player personal so we can’t cast them out yet. It is a much better roster right now than it has been in years. Jonathan Toews is also back so that should get the United Center crowd going as well. This game is very important in more ways than one so hopefully, the Chicago Blackhawks are able to get it done.