The NHL will have regular-season action overseas for a third straight season, the league announced Thursday. Stockholm, Sweden's Ericsson Globe arena will play host to the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning for a pair of games on Nov. 8 and Nov. 9, offering Swedish fans an opportunity to see two of the country's star defensemen - Victor Hedman and Rasmus Dahlin - in meaningful NHL action. The Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers will play their 2019-20 season opener against each other in Prague, Czech Republic on Oct. 4 at O2 Arena. The contest will mark a homecoming for Jakub Voracek and Radko Gudas of the Flyers and David Kampf of the Blackhawks. Chicago will also complete their training camp in Germany and face Eisbären Berlin in an exhibition match on Sept. 29. Meanwhile, the Flyers will finish off training camp in Switzerland and play an exhibition game against Lausanne HC on Sept. 30.<doc-sep>The Headline Sneaking in a quick early morning edit, it was just announced that the Tampa Bay Lightning will be playing against the Buffalo Sabres in November as part of the NHL Global Series. The games will take place in Stockholm, Sweden. Woooo! [Raw Charge] At the crack of dawn on Thursday, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that the team has been selected to play in the 2019 NHL Global Series against the Buffalo Sabres. The games will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2019, at the Ericsson Globe. The Bolts The Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals showed off playoff-calibre hockey on Wednesday night. After a nerve-wracking game, the Bolts came out on top 5-4 in overtime. Victor Hedman the hero in the 3v3 contest. [Raw Charge] The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Washington Capitals 5-4 in a wild overtime game. Andrei Vasilevskiy was unreal making 54 saves breaking the team record for saves in a game that he previously shared with Ben Bishop. Nikita Kucherov scored two goals bringing his point total to 119 and now sits on the verge of reaching another milestone. With two PPGs in the 2nd period, NHL power-play scoring leader Nikita Kucherov has set a Lightning franchise record for most power-play points in a season (47), passing the old mark of 46 PP pts. set by Brad Richards in 2005-06. #TBLvsWSH #Bolts — Bryan Burns (@BBurnsNHL) March 21, 2019 Also in the win, Andrei Vasilevskiy set the franchise record for saves in a game with 54. Ben Bishop had the previous record at 48. Andrei Vasilevskiy registered 54 saves to establish a @TBLightning franchise record for the most in a game, a mark previously set by Ben Bishop (48 saves on Jan. 19, 2014) and matched by Vasilevskiy himself earlier this season (Dec. 13). #NHLStats #TBLvsWSH pic.twitter.com/10CVA0igQH — NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 21, 2019 Do NOT try this at home! pic.twitter.com/rNL9WHrlBx — NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) March 21, 2019 But I think you’ll agree with me in thinking that this goal was the main takeaway from last night. Holy mama! In defense news, Dan Girardi will be out “indefinitely” with a lower body injury. As unfortunate the injury is, Girardi spent the vast majority of his icetime this season with Hedman, and Hedman away from Girardi has been much better this season than when they play together. At the end of the day, I think the main thing we should focus on is how grateful we should be at the emergence of Erik Cernak. Hey! I did two link lead-ins in one paragraph! How would I format this now? Uhh...how about this? Girardi injury news. [Raw Charge] For the immediate future, this removes some of the depth that has been so valuable all season. What was once a seven-player rotation on defense now has a clear top six when Stralman returns. Jan Rutta looks to be the clear seventh now and will likely remain in Tampa until Girardi is healthy. The emergence of Erik Cernak. [Raw Charge] The Slovak defender came to the Lightning in exchange for Ben Bishop at the 2017 trade deadline. At the time, the trade was underwhelming. Bishop had been nominated for the Vezina Trophy as one of the best goaltenders in the league the previous season and rumors at the 2016 draft suggested he might be able to fetch a first-round pick. Jon Cooper and his boys want a Stanley Cup. "Not one person in the room has a #StanleyCup." - Head Coach @CoopersLaw on what's driving the @TBLightning in their historic season and push for the ultimate prize. Watch the full #NHLTonight interview here: https://t.co/ROVwB0XIfD pic.twitter.com/TsFlVo3dDr — NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) March 20, 2019 The Prospects The Syracuse Crunch lost 4-2 to the Charlotte Checkers on a milestone night for a trio of Crunchers. It was also not a good night for goaltender Martin Ouellette, who got ran into by a pair of skaters and had to be rushed to the hospital. We will update y’all on his status when it becomes available. [Raw Charge] The loss of Ouellette, should it be long term, may be the break Connor Ingram needs to get back onto the Crunch’s roster. Whatever the reason for his exile to Orlando, he may now have the chance to contribute to the Crunch’s playoff push once again. Getting back to those milestones, congratulations to Hubert Labrie, Cory Conacher, and Carter Verhaeghe on their successful pro hockey careers. Not many people get to a fraction of where they are. Milestones? Oh, we have @BurdickFord milestones. Defenseman Hubert Labrie is skating in @TheAHL game No. 400 tonight. pic.twitter.com/Hc989AaNtx — Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) March 21, 2019 The AHL is doing a mascot bracket challenge. Seriously. If you haven’t already filled in your bracket, what’s wrong with you? #MascotMadness is right around the corner! Our first round of voting starts tomorrow at 2 ET. To tide you over until then, here are our six preliminary groups: https://t.co/JNjPl4iFkL — AHL (@TheAHL) March 20, 2019 The Game The NHL is hiring more officials. They’re looking all over the world for experienced amateur referees, strong athletes with good eyes, men, women, everyone. The NHL is still accepting applications for its officiating combine in August. More women than ever have applied. The NHL needs athletes from Usport or the NCAA or the pro leagues to step forward. There will be women officiating in the NHL. — Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) March 20, 2019 Detroit Red Wings forward Jacob De La Rose had to be hospitalized with an accelerated heart rate. Here’s hoping everything is okay. [Sportsnet] “We hope everything is fine,” said Blashill, who was informed of the situation during the second period (quotes via NHL.com). “He’ll spend the night here, go home and see a specialist and make sure everything is good. We want to be extra cautious with it.” Brad Marchand had a busy night on Twitter a few days ago. He tweeted a lot of stuff, including a racist tweet about brown people being terrorists that he has since taken down. Took him approximately 15 hours to do so, but the brainiac finally figured it out. [NESN] The Carolina Hurricanes put all their Storm Surges on Youtube. Brilliant move. You can now view every #Canes Storm Surge in one place! » https://t.co/EpLthIp1Yn pic.twitter.com/gUqgajTieW — Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) March 20, 2019 And finally, Highlight of the Night: Honestly, how couldn’t it be this goal again.<doc-sep>Flyers will open the regular season against the Blackhawks in Prague on Oct. 4, while the Sabres and Lightning will place twice in Stockholm in November. Jakub Voracek was psyched at the mere suggestion the Philadelphia Flyers might play an NHL game in his native Czech Republic. ''I'm not going to lie to you, it would be great,'' Voracek said with a smile. ''Obviously to play an NHL game in your home country, it'd be awesome.'' Voracek will get that chance next season when the Flyers open the regular season against the Chicago Blackhawks in Prague on Oct. 4. The NHL on Thursday announced that matchup and two games between the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning in Stockholm in November as part of its now-annual Global Series. It's the third consecutive year the NHL is staging regular-season games in Europe and eighth overall. This will be Philadelphia's first appearance as part of the series. The games in Stockholm on Nov. 8-9 should feature a handful of Swedes, including Sabres 2018 top pick Rasmus Dahlin and 2018 Lightning Norris Trophy winner Victor Hedman. ''Yes!'' was how Dahlin described his first reaction to learning the news. ''I was so happy. I wanted to have it, but I wasn't expecting it in my second year,'' the 18-year-old following a 4-2 loss to Toronto. ''It's great for me, but I also think it's going to be amazing for my family and friends, too, to be able to see a live NHL game,'' Dahlin said. ''And me playing there, a lot of them will never have a chance to see me play hockey.'' Dahlin noted it could also be a homecoming for several teammates in a Sabres organization stocked with Swedish-born players. Goalie Linus Ullmark and Johan Larsson are from Sweden, as are minor-league prospects and Victor Olofsson, Rasmus Asplund and Lawrence Pilut. Forward Alexander Nylander was born in Canada, but has represented Sweden on the international stage. ''It's so fun to share it with other Swedes,'' Dahlin said. ''It's probably the best thing that could happen.'' The Sabres opened the 2011-12 season playing Anaheim at Helsinki, Finland, and then Los Angeles at Berlin, Germany. This season, the New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers opened the regular season in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets played twice in Helsinki. Like the Devils and Oilers, the Blackhawks and Flyers will finish training camp in Europe and play an exhibition game against a local team. The Blackhawks will go to Germany and face Eisbaren Berlin on Sept. 29, and the Flyers will go to Switzerland and face HC Lausanne on Sept. 30. The NHL is also expected to have more exhibition games in China, but that matchup has not yet been announced.<doc-sep>
At the crack of dawn on Thursday, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that the team has been selected to play in the 2019 NHL Global Series against the Buffalo Sabres. The games will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2019, at the Ericsson Globe. From the press release, Tickets and VIP hospitality packages to the Nov. 8 and Nov. 9 NHL Global Series games between the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning at Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, will go on sale at 9 a.m. CET on Wednesday, March 27 at www.livenation.se. The last time the Lightning played in Europe was in 2008, vs. the New York Rangers in two games held in Prague, Czech Republic. They lost both games by scores of 2-1, so here’s hoping for a better outcome. The Swede count for the Tampa Bay Lightning is currently two. The Swede count for the Buffalo Sabres is currently four, with a sad Alex Nylander looking on from the AHL. If the rosters stay stable, Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman, Rasmus Dahlin, Johan Larsson, Lawrence Pilut and Linus Ullmark will be making a homecoming trip to share Sweden with their NHL buddies. In a feature written by Bryan Burns, Hedman has already threatened his teammates with a “mystery” food, which we immediately identified as pickled herring: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman has a surprise for his teammates when they visit his home country next fall. Exactly what that surprise is, Hedman’s not divulging, at least on the record. And we’re not telling because, hey, who wants to get the hulking 6-foot-6 blueliner on their bad side? ”It’s going to smell, I can tell you that much,” Hedman said with a grin. “And it’s food. It’s a specialty in Sweden. I don’t like it personally.” The series will also feature two exhibition games, with the Chicago Blackhawks playing Eisbären on Sunday, September 29 in Berlin, Germany after holding training camp overseas; and the Philadelphia Flyers playing Lausanne HC in Switzerland on Monday, September 30, also after holding training camp overseas. The two NHL teams will play each other in their season openers on Friday, October 4 in Prague. Ondrej Palat will just have to attend the Prague game as a hockey fan. So, are you making the trip?