Stars hoping to end fun trip to Finland with bang against Panthers 

TAMPERE, Finland -- Don’t worry about the Dallas Stars having too much fun in Finland.

Yes, they have cheated on their diets a bit, sampling Finnish delicacies. Sure, they skipped practice for a couple of days to explore the cities of Helsinki and Tampere. They may have sung a bit of later-night karaoke and spent Wednesday night gorging on chicken wings and beer. They’ve laughed a lot and lost themselves in this grand adventure more than once.

But coach Peter DeBoer says they will be ready to play the Florida Panthers in back-to-back games at the 2024 NHL Global Series presented by Fastenal at Nokia Arena on Friday (2 p.m. ET; Victory+, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN) and Saturday (Noon ET; Victory+, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN1).

“We’ve gone to the sauna twice and drank a whole lot of Finnish beer,” he said. “I mean, listen, you don’t have to say much or do much to get our guys ready to play the Stanley Cup champions. That motivation is there. We know the task at hand.

“I think our guys are excited to take that challenge on. Obviously, it’s an exciting trip, which I think makes it easier to focus. We’ve done a good job of enjoying the experience of it because you want to make sure you enjoy it. These are once-in-a-lifetime trips. We’ve done that, but we’ve had great practices two days ago and today. Guys will be ready.”

The preparation began in earnest with a Thursday practice at Nokia Arena that stretched almost an hour. There were line rushes and work on special teams. Lots of skating and lots of teaching.

Defenseman Mathew Dumba welcomed the heavy pace.

“We got two important games coming up here. We want to be dialed in for that and make sure we are ready,” he said.

The games are huge in their minds.

The Stars (7-2-0) have made it to the Western Conference Final in each of the past two seasons but lost each time. They have designs on getting to the Stanley Cup Final this time around.

Florida (7-3-1) was a finalist each of the past two seasons and after a five-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, they were crowned champions for the first time last season, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.

The Stars are treating the Global Series like measuring-stick games, even if it comes in the first few weeks of the season.

“I think if we’re coming all this way, might as well play a top team and have some fun with it,” forward Tyler Seguin said. “It’s a little unfortunate we don’t get to go to Florida once this year, but I think we’ll take Finland for this season. It’s been a good few days so far and looking to finish off the trip positively.”

Everyone is relishing the challenge.

Defenseman Miro Heiskanen has enjoyed being in his home country for the past four days, but he is ready to play some hockey and find out where the Stars are in their progress this season.

“It’s a great challenge for us,” he said. “It’s a really good team against us. We have to be ready for that and play a couple good games here. We get to see where we are at and how we are doing.”

It also scratches an itch, said forward Matt Duchene. The Stars are used to playing every other day, or at least practicing most days. Thursday was the second time they have skated in the four days here while exploring the area and adjusting to the seven-hour time difference with home.

“[The trip] has been good but it has felt a little bit long,” he said. “It was nice to get back out in a rhythm. Obviously, we are still fighting the time change. We had a lot of guys wake up in the middle of the night, myself included. We’re trying to reset the body and get ready for a tough back-to-back.”

The wins -- not the wings -- are now the focus for the Stars.

“It’s been a great trip so far, hopefully we can get two wins and come back home,” Heiskanen said.