The German national ice hockey player Nico Sturm lost with his new team the San Jose Sharks at the start of the NHL season. When the 27-year-old striker made his comeback, the Californians lost 4-1 to the Nashville Predators in Prague (1-1, 0-2; 0-1).
Sturm, who won the Stanley Cup with Colorado Avalanche last season, was absent from the pre-season game against the Vegas Golden Knights in the 3-1 win at Eisbären Berlin on suspicion of concussion. In the defeat against Nasville, only Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose. The winner was Kiefer Sherwood, Eeli Tolvanen, Nino Niederreiter and Matt Duchene.
Main round games outside of North America have been a part of marketing in the NHL for decades. The first games were held in Japan in 1997, and in 2007 London was the first European city to host the game. In 2011, the Los Angeles Kings played the only NHL main round encounter in Germany against the Buffalo Sabers in Berlin.
Because of the corona pandemic, the National Hockey League was last active abroad in 2019. The fact that the season even starts in a country other than Canada or the USA is also not a first, but it hasn’t happened for a very long time. In 2007 the league started its season in London, in 2008 there was one game each in Prague and Stockholm.
The fact that the Predators and Sharks are playing each other in Europe this year is due to a mix of reasons including which players with connections to the region are in the roster and requests from teams for overseas assignments. In addition to the two encounters in Prague, there will be two other main round games in Europe in November: The Columbus Blue Jackets will play twice in one month in Tampere, Finland, against the defending Stanley Cup champions Colorado Avalanche.