Blackhawks: Five games to get excited about in 2021

The Chicago Blackhawks 2021 season will be entertaining to watch regardless of how well they perform, and there are some key games to circle on the calendar.

Fifty-six games against your division should yield some pretty fun rivalries this season for the NHL, and the Chicago Blackhawks are no exception. Chicago will square off against their divisional opponents a lot in 2021.

When coming up with a list of critical matchups, it was hard not to put the first game against each team in the ‘Hawks division. First impressions will be essential to feeling out opponents, especially considering each time playing an opponent will feature a follow-up matchup within the next few days.

Starting each series on the right note will determine how the Blackhawks do during their shortened season. There are several fun games to look forward to around the NHL, so if you want to check in on five important matchups to watch within the first few days of the season, check out our friends at Puck Prose article.

The first matchup to circle shouldn’t come as a surprise.

1. January 13th at Tampa Bay Lightning

This will be a banner raising ceremony like no other in the NHL. After taking on the bubble and the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning were crowned the Stanley Cup Champions at the 2019-20 season conclusion.

Tampa was arguably the best team in the NHL the past three or four seasons, so seeing them finally win their Stanley Cup was nice to see. However, their time is now over. In years past, we have seen the banner raising team fall behind in their first game back.

With critical injuries to stars like Nikita Kucherov, anything can happen heading into this first game. If the Lightning spent a little too much time partying and not enough time getting ready for their first game of the season, then Chicago could very well sneak away with this win.

This matchup will also be intriguing to see how the Blackhawks players are stacking up against the best of the best, and I can not wait to see who gets the start in goal.