NHL hockey made its long-awaited return Tuesday evening, and Wednesday brings much more of the same with a dozen teams hitting the ice for exhibition action in Toronto and Edmonton.
We’re gathering the best photos, quotes, videos, and notes from the league’s hubs to give fans a glimpse of life in the bubbles.
Thunder arrives in Toronto
The NHL hubs have quickly become home to 24 teams. You’ll hear teams’ home-rink goal horns, piped-in crowd noise could feature familiar cheers and chants tailored to each team, and extra measures are being taken to dress up the Oilers’ and Maple Leafs’ locker rooms to look a little more like their own digs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning brought an extra-special token from Tampa to Toronto — a pane of glass from Amalie Arena, signed by fans and flown north to the hub:
Cool touch. Tampa Bay Lightning invited their fans to sign a pane of glass, flew it into the bubble and had it installed at SBA for today's noon matinee versus the Florida Panthers. (@TBLightning) pic.twitter.com/MB21IGfLRI
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) July 29, 2020
The Lightning recently invited fans to sign the pane as part of their “Be the Distant Thunder” fan campaign. As Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston noted, Lightning players also signed a pane that will be used as a safety barrier at a hospital in Tampa in a showing of support for front line workers.
Capitals’ Vanecek steps in for Samsonov
One of the biggest storylines in Washington throughout Phase 3’s training camp was the whereabouts of rookie goaltender Ilya Samsonov who, after putting up excellent numbers this season, was absent from camp earlier this month due to what we later learned was an injury suffered prior to the restart.
It looks like the Capitals will now lean on Vitek Vanecek, who has spent the past four seasons in the AHL with the Hershey Bears, to back up starter Braden Holtby.
Vanecek, 24, has yet to suit up for an NHL game but a strong showing at camp put him “in a good spot” to be on Washington’s bench in the bubble.
Hotel X hijinx have begun
Tuesday night brought a mystery in the NHL bubble when this suspicious tweet landed in our timelines…
Tom Wilson’s response didn’t rule him out, but…
… it also led to us to a second suspect. A collaboration, perhaps?
We may never truly solve this case.
UPDATE! The plot thickens…
UPDATE 2:
Teams continue settling into their home away from home
https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1288596108978028544
