(New York) The NHL will return to Europe this fall for its first series of games outside North America since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
The league said Thursday that the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators will play two games in Prague in October. She added that the Colorado Avalanche and the Columbus Blue Jackets will meet twice in Tampere, Finland, in November as part of an international series.
The Sharks and Predators will also complete their training camp in Europe. The California team will also play a preseason match in Bern, Switzerland, against SC Bern, while the Preds will travel to Berlin to cross swords with Eisbären Berlin, of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
The two games that will take place at the O2 Arena in Prague on October 7 and 8, 2022 will be the first to be shown in Europe since the duel between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabers in Stockholm on November 9, 2019. The Blackhawks Chicago and the Philadelphia Flyers were the last NHL teams to meet in Prague in October 2019.
The Predators were scheduled to start the 2020-21 season in Prague against the Boston Bruins, but the coronavirus pandemic thwarted the Bettman Tour’s plans. It will be their first matches in Europe, after two games played in Saitama, Japan, in 2000.
The NHL has played a total of 34 regular season games outside of North America, in eight different cities and six different countries. Tampere will become the ninth.