Three things worth watching in the global series

The Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders this season. The Panthers hope to bounce back as NHL champions, while the Stars hope they can take advantage of another trip to the Western Conference Finals and earn the top prize.

While the Stars and Panthers By pursuing the Stanley Cup, both organizations stand out as two of the most important franchises in the NHL. The league gives them another chance to highlight why they are traveling to Tampere, Finland for two games at Nokia Arena as part of the NHL Global Series Finland. With these teams ready to go back-to-back, let’s take a look at the most important storylines included in this series.

Both teams will have a lot of love for these hometown games. Captain of the Panther Alexander Barkov He is a Tampere native and is expected to be showered with praise and support by his home country during this series of games.

Meanwhile, the Stars have their own Finnish connections. Three of their players – Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Roope Hinz – are natives of Finland. While none of them are hometown guys like Barkov, the crowd should also cheer for the Finnish trio in drag. Dallas uniform.

Stars The Stars and Panthers are two excellent options to reach the Stanley Cup Finals, and it’s possible that these two games are just a preview of the final series in 2025. The Stars are 7-2 in nine games, good for second place in the Central Division. The Panthers lead the Atlantic Division with a 7-3-1 record through 11 games. It’s too early to state this as a fact, but no one should be surprised if this is a preview of the Stanley Cup Final.

Both of these teams have deep rosters, excellent coaching and elite goaltending. As the Cats and Stars battle it out in Tampere, one of those games will likely feature Jake Oettinger and Sergei Bobrovsky as goaltenders.

Ettinger is looking forward to the start of the year with a goals-against average of under 2.00, a .938 save percentage and a 5-1-0 record. He signed a massive contract extension at the start of the season and is already committing to it on the ice.

Bobrovsky is enjoying drinking from the fountain of youth as, at 36 years old, he remains one of the NHL’s top goaltenders. He’s 5-2-1 in his first eight games as a starter, and he’s picking up right where he left off in the 2024 postseason. While Finnish fans are hoping for an electric attacking fight, they should prepare for a tense goaltending matchup with Oettinger and Bobrovsky between the pipes.

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