The NHL regular season has officially gotten underway in 2024. While the rest of the teams are wrapping up the preseason, The New Jersey Devils and the Buffalo Sabers had a very exciting opportunity. On Oct. 4th and 5th, the two teams took the ice all the way in Prague, Czechia. There was a lot of excitement around this series between the two teams.
This, however, is not the only time that the NHL is going global this season. The Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers will meet and take the ice at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland, on Nov. 1st and 2nd.
In the first game in Prague, the Devils jumped out to a lead early on. At 11:21 the first goal of the NHL season was scored by Stefan Noesen. The opening goal was assisted by Johnathan Kovacevic. With about four minutes left in the first period, the Devils would strike again. This time the goal scorer is Johnathan Kovacevic. The assists went to Jonas Siegenthaler and Dawson Mercer. After one the Devils led 2-0.
In the second period, around three and a half minutes in, the Devils scored again. This time it was the captain, Nico Hischier, who lighted the lamp while Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter got the assists. That made it 3-0, and the score remained that until the third period.
Halfway through the third, the Sabers finally get on the scoreboard with a goal by their young defenseman Owen Power. The goal was assisted by JJ Peterka and Bowen Byram, and this made the score 3-1. That is where the score would stay, until less than three minutes left in the game when the Devils would add an empty net goal to make it 4-1. Paul Cotter was given the goal with the assist going to Nathan Bastian. The Devils won game one 4-1, behind strong goaltending by Jacob Markstrom saving 30 of 31 Buffalo shots.
Moving on to game two of this series, the Sabers were looking to rebound in a big way, and it seemed to look promising when they opened the scoring in the second period as superstar Tage Thompson got them on the board with a tally. Jordan Greenway and Alex Tuch got the assists on that goal. The Devils tied the game with eight minutes left in the second on a goal by Seamus Casey.
Going into the third period, the Sabers were looking to take the lead back. However, the Devils scored to take a 2-1 lead. Cotter scored his second goal of the series, and Jack Hughes got the lone assist. The Devils would go on to not only hold the lead, but also added another goal thanks to Timo Meier and that made it 3-1. Jesper Bratt and Hughes would get credit for the assists. Jake Allen played well in net stopping 17 of 18 shots for the Devils.
The Devils would go on to win that game 3-1, and secured the sweep of the global series and start 2-0 on the season. As for the Sabers, this is a start that they did not want, starting 0-2.
The other 30 NHL teams have now wrapped up their preseason and will get the season underway on Tuesday Oct. 8th and Wednesday Oct. 9th
