New series.

 Should have started doing this in March when I started season by season recaps.  So I will be doing a couple a day till I get caught up to the 1933-34 season (where I'm at now). Sooooo. The 1917-18 NHL season had: 1. The NHL form November 22, 1917. 2. First games December 19 with the Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators (the original ones) 7-4. Joe Hall scored 5 goals. Also the Montreal Wanderers beating Toronto 10-9. The Wanderers arena burned down a few days later and had to withdraw. Toronto beat the Canadiens 10-7 in a total goals series for the NHL championship, then beat Vancouver ( PCHL champ) 3 games to 2 for the Stanley Cup.

The 1918-19 season saw Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa play.  Season had a 20 game schedule to be played in two halves.  Toronto had to withdraw after game 18 of the season due to financial constraints. (That will be a theme later). Montreal beat Ottawa 4 games to 1 for the NHL championship. NHL and the west coast League had their champions battle for the Cup). Montreal faced Seattle for the Stanley Cup. The series was at 2 wins for Montreal, 2 wins for Seattle and one game tied when the series was ended due to the Spanish Influenza.  Joe Hall had died from it during the series.  Was the first time a Stanley Cup wasn't decided.