The San Jose Sharks will play the Nashville Predators in two National Hockey League games in Prague, Czech Republic to begin the 2022-23 regular season on Friday and Saturday. Let us take a look back down memory lane at the five NHL games that have been played in Prague.
New York Rangers 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 1
The first ever National Hockey League regular season game in Prague was played on October 4, 2008 with the New York Rangers beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 at the O2 Arena. The Rangers got goals from Markus Naslund of Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, and Brandon Dubinsky of Anchorage, Alaska. This was Naslund’s first game with the Rangers after the veteran left winger played 12 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. Dubinsky’s goal came on the power-play and was the game-winner with 5:44 left in the third period from Dan Girardi and Paul Mara. Swedish goaltending superstar Henrik Lundqvist made 20 saves for the win.
New York Rangers 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 1
Just like the day before, the Rangers beat the Lightning 2-1 on October 5, 2008. In this game the Lightning went up 1-0 on a first period goal by Adam Hall. Then in the second period, the Rangers scored twice with goals from Wade Redden of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan and Scott Gomez of Anchorage, Alaska. Redden and Gomez each had multi-point games as they each added an assist. It is interesting that in the two Rangers wins over the Lightning, that a player from Anchorage, Alaska scored the game-winning goal. Lundqvist made 18 saves in this contest in his second game of a back-to-back.
Phoenix Coyotes 5, Boston Bruins 2
On October 9, 2010, the Coyotes beat the Bruins 5-2 at the O2 Arena. The Coyotes scored the first four goals of the game as they had a commanding 4-0 lead after 40 minutes. Two Coyotes had multi-point games as Radim Vrbata of Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic scored twice and Ed Jovanovski of Windsor, Ontario had two assists. The other three Coyotes players who scored were Taylor Pyatt, Eric Belanger, and Scottie Upshall.
Boston Bruins 3, Phoenix Coyotes 0
After Tuukka Rask struggled in net for the Bruins in the previous game, Tim Thomas of Flint, Michigan was brilliant in net for Boston on October 10, 2010 as he made 29 saves for the shutout in a 3-0 Boston win. The Bruins got goals from Milan Lucic of Vancouver, British Columbia, Nathan Horton of Welland, Ontario, and Tyler Seguin of Brampton, Ontario. Seguin, who was the second overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, scored his very first NHL goal.
Philadelphia Flyers 4, Chicago Blackhawks 3
In the last game played in Prague on October 4, 2019, the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3. Travis Konecny of London, Ontario was the Flyers star as he had two goals and was the only Flyers player with a multi-point game as he added an assist for three points. The other Flyers goal scorers were Oskar Lindblom of Gavle, Sweden, and Michael Raffl of Villach, Austria.
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