Before the game, the Stanley Cup banner went to the rafters at Ball Arena in downtown Denver.
Then the Colorado Avalanche got down to the business of hockey and began the defense of the Stanley Cup title it won last year.
The Avs opened the 2022-2023 regular season with a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Colorado's power play came out firing. Arrturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin each scored two power play goals to pace the Avs offense. Andrew Coglinao scored the team's first goal of the season at 13:44 of the first period.
Before the game, the Avalanche took one final opportunity to celebrate last year's Stanley Cup title. Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 was at Ball Arena for the festivities. The band's song, All The Small Things, became the Avs theme song last year.
As the Avs were on the ice to watch the Stanley Cup banner be raised to the rafters, Blackhawks defenseman Jack Johnson, who was a member of last year's Avs Cup-winning team, also came on the ice and joined the Avs arm-in-arm to watch the banner go up.
The Avs are back in action tonight (Thursday, October 13) at Calgary. Face-off is at 7:30 p.m. MDT.