The NHL season has finally started.

Between the end of the playoffs and start of the season, the air is just not the same in Canada. It’s almost as if there is a void that needs filling.

The season began Oct. 4 with a bang. Toronto smoked the Winnipeg Jets 7-2 in what turned out to be the Austin Matthews’ show. Matthews tallied three points in his sophomore season debut and set the pace for what is to be expected to come this year. It wasn’t so much Toronto’s win as Winnipeg came out of the gates sloppy, allowing three goals in the last five minutes of the first period.

The battle of Alberta turned out to be a “watch Connor McDavid skate end-to-end blowing by everyone” kind of a game. This is a game where speed kills and McDavid has a ton of it, and then some. Netting the only three goals of the game, McDavid is proving he is the new sheriff in town and he’s here to stay.

It will be exciting to see what more this season has to offer for the second year captain and the battles with other stars like Crosby and Matthews.

Elsewhere in the league Sydney Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins lost their home opener to the Blues in overtime, dropping the game 5-4. Canadian d-man Alex Pietrangelo out-played arguably the best player in the league, scoring the tie breaker in the third and the game winner in overtime.

Wayne Simmonds scored the second hat-trick of the night in the Flyers win over the Sharks.

I’m excited to see what these stars bring for the rest of the season, already setting the bar high in opening night. I’m Kent Zurek with What the Sports?