The Devils meet the Sabers in the Czech capital to open the NHL regular season

PRAGUE (AP) — Ondrej Palat won the Stanley Cup twice. He won a gold medal with the Czech Republic at the world championships.

This week, the striker will check another item off his to-do list when his New Jersey Devils and the Buffalo swords will open the NHL regular season with two games in Prague.

“I was lucky enough to realize many of my dreams in hockey,” Palat said. “But playing an NHL hockey game in my beloved Czechia is something I never imagined.”

The NHL World Series games on Friday and Saturday will bring the number of regular season games hosted by Prague to nine. Stockholm, Sweden, is the only place outside of North America to record more.

Two more international matches will be played in Tampere, Finland on November 1 and 2 in defense. Florida, Stanley Cup champion face the Dallas Stars.

Palat said traveling together for overseas games can be a good team-building experience. Five years ago, he was part of the Tampa Bay Lightning who swept a two-game series against the Sabers in Stockholm. The team won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and again the following year.

“Along with Tampa, the trip to Stockholm was great for us,” Palat said. “We had a lot of fun and that translated onto the ice and we played really well. We need to do (something) a little similar. We’re going to have fun but it’s also a business trip and we need to get the season off to a good start.

Hockey-loving Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic have been the go-to destinations for regular-season NHL games abroad in recent years. Along with Russia, these countries represent the majority of European players present in the league.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in August that the league wanted develop to other markets and mentioned Germany, Switzerland and Great Britain as possibilities. London played two regular season matches in 2007 and Berlin one in 2011. Switzerland has never hosted a regular season match.

The Devils have already played in Europe; in 2018, they beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Sabers played four. Before the losses to Tampa in 2019, they won twice in 2011 against the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 in Helsinki and the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 in Berlin. They played an exhibition game in Munich last week.

Czech NHL players are extremely popular at home and the presence of rookie forward Palat and Sabers Jiri Kulich ensures Prague’s O2 Arena will be full this weekend. Palat was part of the Czech team that beat Switzerland win the worlds in the same arena in May.

The Devils signed Palat, who has 101 career playoff points, to a five-year, $30 million contract in 2022, eager to capitalize on his playoff experience. However, they failed to qualify for the playoffs last spring for the 10th time in 12 seasons.

Sheldon Keefewho coached the Toronto Maple Leafs to the playoffs for five straight seasons, was hired by the Devils to make a difference.

“We’re still learning, that’s for sure, but guys want to learn, get better and build something sustainable here, recognizing that it’s not going to happen overnight,” Keefe said.

The Sabers are hoping to end a 13-year playoff drought. Coach Lindy Ruffwho guided them to their last playoff run in 2011, is back after being fired by New Jersey. During its previous stint from 1997 to 2012, Buffalo advanced eight times and reached the Stanley Cup Final in 1999.

Ruff needs to improve his offense which has produced 2.98 goals per game – 23rd in the league.

The good news for the Sabers is that Jack Quinn is healthy after injuries limited him to 27 games last season, along with nine goals and 10 assists.

“With the injuries and everything else, I just haven’t been able to take the steps that I wanted to as a player yet,” Quinn said. “I feel like last year I could have done it if I hadn’t been injured, so I’m on a mission to do it this year.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl