NEW YORK — Stop if you’ve heard this one before: the NHL is losing games because of a lockout.

The first cut was two weeks of games, and judging by the sniping between the league and its players, no end is in sight.

In a widely anticipated move, the NHL announced Thursday that 82 games between opening night next week and Oct. 24 have been canceled because of the ongoing fight with the players’ association that had already forced the league to eliminate the preseason schedule.

It was just seven years ago that the NHL absorbed its biggest blemish by canceling the entire 2004-05 season in its ultimately successful bid to gain a salary cap. Now the league is fighting to gain even more financial control of the sport.