Title: History of the National Hockey League (1917–1942)
Content:  and the players in an attempt to keep his team operating. Nonetheless, the NHL began play three weeks after it was created, with the first games held on December 19 in Ottawa and Montreal. A French language newspaper ad discovered in 2017 established that the Montreal game started at 8:15 pm, ahead of the Ottawa match scheduled to begin at 8:30 pm and delayed a short time by a contract dispute, making the Montreal Wanderers 10–9 defeat of the Toronto Arenas at the Montreal Arena the league's first game, with Montreal's Dave Ritchie scoring the new league's first goal and goalie Bert Lindsay earning the first win.
Title: First indoor ice hockey game
Content:  On March 3, 1875, the first recorded indoor ice hockey game took place at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Organized by James Creighton, who captained one of the teams, the game was between two nine-member teams, using a wooden "puck". Members used skates and sticks used for outdoor hockey and shinny games in Nova Scotia, where Creighton was born and raised. It is recognized as the first organized ice hockey game.
Title: History of the National Hockey League (1942–1967)
Content:  joint venture between the NHL and the CAHA, in Kingston, Ontario, considered by Sutherland the birthplace of hockey. Originally called the "International Hockey Hall of Fame", its mandate was to honor great hockey players and to raise funds for a permanent location. The first eleven honored members were inducted on April 30, 1945. Not until 1961 did the Hockey Hall of Fame establish a permanent home at Exhibition Place in Toronto. On October 13, 1947, to raise money for the newly created NHL Pension Society, the first official All-Star Game took place at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. The NHL All-Stars defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–3 and raised C$25,000 for the pension fund. The All-Star Game remains an annual tradition.
Title: NHL 100 Classic
Content:  The NHL 100 Classic was announced during a press conference on March 17, 2017. As part of the league's centennial celebrations, the game honoured the 100th anniversary of the first games of the NHL's inaugural season, held on December 19, 1917. Two games were played that night: the original Ottawa Senators hosted the Montreal Canadiens, which started at 8:30 pm, and the Toronto Arenas hosted the Montreal Wanderers which started at 8:15 pm. The game was also part of Ottawa's festivities for the Canadian sesquicentennial. According to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: "To launch our next 100 years, we believe it is only right to bring the Canadiens and the Senators back together." Mayor of Ottawa Jim Watson remarked that he had spent a significant amount of time to convince the NHL to hold an outdoor game in Ottawa, noting that "at some point I think I 
Title: National Hockey League
Content:  the NHL's first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play in the NHL, and the remaining owners founded the Toronto Arenas to compete with the Canadiens, Wanderers and Senators. The first games were played on December 19, 1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, and the NHL continued on as a three-team league until the Bulldogs returned in 1919. The NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, an interleague competition at the time. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) for the 1918 Stanley Cup. The 
Title: 1917 in Canada
Content: March 26 – The Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Seattle Metropolitans become the first American team to win the Stanley Cup by defeating the National Hockey Association's Montreal Canadiens 3 games to 1. The Metropolitans won their only Cup in front of their home crowd at Seattle Ice Arena ; November 26 – The National Hockey League (NHL) is established in Montreal, with 4 teams from the National Hockey Association (Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Quebec Bulldogs) The owners would form a new team in Toronto due to a dispute Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone, the Toronto Hockey Club (Toronto Maple Leafs) ; December 19 – Montreal Wanderers defeat the Toronto Arenas in the first NHL game. 
Title: 1st National Hockey League All-Star Game
Content:  The 1st National Hockey League All-Star Game took place at Maple Leaf Gardens, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, on October 13, 1947. The game saw the Maple Leafs play a team of NHL all-stars. The All-Stars won the game 4–3.
Title: Ice hockey in the United States
Content:  The contemporary sport of ice hockey was developed in Canada, most notably in Montreal, Quebec, where the first indoor hockey game was played on March 3, 1875. Some characteristics of that game, such as the length of the ice rink and the use of a puck, have been retained to this day. The game soon spread south through Canadian immigrants, who played the stick and ball game referred to as "shinny" on frozen ponds and lakes in the winter. The first organized game of this precursor to modern ice hockey in the United States was on November 17, 1883 on the Lower School Pond of St. Paul's School in 
Title: NHL All-Star Game
Content:  The first All-Star game in ice hockey predates the NHL. It was played on January 2, 1908, before 3,500 fans at the Montreal Arena between the Montreal Wanderers and a team of All-Stars players from the teams the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association. It was held in memory of Montreal Wanderers player Hod Stuart, who had drowned three months after the Wanderers won the Stanley Cup in 1907. The proceeds of that game (over $2,000) went to Stuart's family.
Title: National Hockey League on television
Content:  Broadcasting rights in Canada have historically included the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC), a long-standing Canadian tradition dating to 1952, and even prior to that on radio since the 1920s. The first NHL game to be broadcast on television occurred on October 11, 1952, a French-language CBC broadcast between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. CBC proceeded with its first English-language broadcast a month later on November 1, 1952, televising a game featuring the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. Other previous Canadian broadcasters have included CTV, Global, TSN, Sportsnet; and French-language broadcasts on SRC, and RDS. The current national television and digital rightsholder is Rogers Communications, under a 12-year deal valued at 

Question: where was the first nhl hockey game played?
Answer: Ottawa.
Montreal.