NHL Premiere in Europe

NHL Premiere Logo
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For the last 4 years the National Hockey League has played some of it's preseason and early season games in Europe. This year was no different. There were 7 preseason games and 4 regular season games played this year.  4 teams made the trip, the Anaheim Duck, Buffalo Sabres, Los Angeles Kings, and New York Rangers. The games were played in Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden, and Switzerland. For the preseason games, the NHL teams faced a local pro team. For the regular season, the NHL teams faced another NHL member.


The preseason games were called the NHL Premiere Challenge. The Rangers played the first 4 games. The first game was in Prague, Czech Republic between New York and HC Sparka Praha. The Rangers won 2-0. New York played in the next game in Gothenburg, Sweden, defeating the Frolunda Indians 4-2. In Bratislava, Slovakia, New York faced and beat HC Slovan Bratislava 4-1. For their final game, New York was dominated by EV Zug, 8-4 in Zug, Switzerland.


Anahiem played their only European preseason games in Helsiniki, Finland vs. Jokerit. They won in overtime 4-3. The Kings then played in Hamburg, Germany and beat the Hamburg Freezers 5-4. The last preseason game in Europe was played between Buffalo and the Adler Mannheim in Mannheim, Germany. The Sabres won in a blowout, 8-3. The NHL went 6-1 in the preseason games.


The first regular season games was between Anaheim and Buffalo from Hartwell Areena in Finland. The Sabres dominated from the get-go, with Thomas Vanek scoring on a power play within 5 minutes and then a goal a little later by Ville Leino. In the 2nd period, the Ducks started to rally when Nate Guenin scored. However, Buffalo countered the game with a Jason Pomiville goal and a Thomas Vanek PP goal.

A Fight for the Puck in Stockholm
AP Photo/Niklas Larsson

In the other game, the New York Rangers faced the Los Angeles Kings in Stockholm, Sweden was an overtime thriller. The first goal of the game was scored by LA's Anze Kopitar in the first period. The Rangers countered quickly with a goal, 5 minutes later, by Ryan Callahan. After a scoreless 2nd period, New York's Marian Gaborik broke the tie with 10 minutes left in the 3rd period. Then the Kings' Mike Richards scored the equalizer to put the game into OT. With less then 1 minute left in OT, Jack Johnson of Los Angeles scored the game-winning goal.


One night passed and then Anaheim and the Rangers faced off in Stockholm. Anaheim started off hot when Andrew Cogliano scored at the 9 minutes mark. But then no one could score for more than 2 periods. New York tied it up with less then 3 minutes left in the 3rd period with a Brad Richards goal. With everyone going cold again, it went into a penalty shootout, where again, scoring was scarce. After each team missed their first 3 goals, the Ducks' Bobby Ryan beat New York's goalie, Henrik Lundqvist to take the lead. New York couldn't tie it back up and Anaheim won 2-1.

Berlin's 02 World
Stuart Franklin/Bongarts/Getty Images

For the final game in Europe, Buffalo and Los Angeles played at the 02 World in Berlin, Germany. Both teams didn't score in the 1st period. Early in the second, Buffalo's Luke Adam scored to make it 1-0 and then scored again 3 minutes later to make it 2-0. Sabres' Paul Gaustad scored later in the 2nd. Los Angeles finally got on the board with 2 minutes left in the 2nd period with an Anze Kopitar goal. Drew Stafford of Buffalo put the game out of reach with an early 3rd period goal. Kopitar scored late in 3rd but it didn't matter. Buffalo won 4-2.