TAMPERE, Finland -- The Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers feel they each can make a bold statement in the first game of the 2024 NHL Global Series presented by Fastenal at Nokia Arena on Friday (2 p.m. ET; Victory+, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN).
All the ingredients are there.
The Panthers (7-3-1) are the defending Stanley Cup champion. The Dallas Stars (7-2-0) have been to the Western Conference Final each of the past two seasons.
Each team is among the League’s elite again this season and each is blessed with star players, many of whom have ties to Finland.
Forward Roope Hintz and defensemen Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen are the Finnish players who play for the Stars. Forwards Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Niko Mikkola are the Finnish players on the Panthers roster. Tuomo Ruutu, another Finn, is an assistant with Florida.
Dallas defenseman Mathew Dumba has watched his Finnish teammates closely this week and he is amazed at the sway they have here. He knows that these two games are important to them and that makes it important for the rest of the Stars.
“I know they are very proud guys, and they want to represent Finland well,” Dumba said. “They do a great job doing that overseas every day with us but to be back at home and doing this where you grow up, it’s got to be something special. I think it’s huge.”
Dallas coach Pete DeBoer has sensed that in his group as well, believing that the bonding exercises conducted during the past four days have helped the team see how important hockey is here and how proud the Finnish players are of their country and culture.
“You can’t replicate the excitement [the Finnish] guys have,” DeBoer said. “And, I think our group, because of how special those guys are as people and teammates, they are excited for them and because of them. They want to put on a show and embrace everything they are trying to show us and make it special for them. It shows you how important they are to our group with the reaction our guys have. They want to play well for Roope in front of his people.”
Hintz, 27, is from nearby Nokia and played for local club Ilves before leaving for North America. Barkov, 29, is from Tampere and played for Tappara, the city’s other first-division team, before joining the Panthers a decade ago.
Each play center and it is likely that they will go head-to-head across multiple shifts.
The significance of this blew DeBoer’s mind.
“I am amazed by the fact that you have two elite centerman from the same [area] -- and it’s not a big city -- in Roope Hintz and Barkov,” he said. “For two of the top, I don’t know, 15 or 20 centers in the world to come from the same home town and be in the same age group or type of age group. It’s incredible when you get up here and see it’s not really a huge city and you are a long way from Helsinki.
“It’s a great story.”
DeBoer and Panthers coach Paul Maurice played together with Windsor in the Ontario Hockey League 40 years ago. Maurice got DeBoer his first coaching gig and they have remained fast friends.
“We started our career together, almost accidently,” Maurice says, the wonderment detectable in his voice. “We had no idea what we were doing and we ended up in the National League.”
Not only in the League, but each the head coach of a team among a small group favored to win the Stanley Cup.
Each team and each coach are made for games like these.
“Just more excitement,” Dallas captain Jamie Benn said when asked about the Panthers. “I think whenever you’re playing the defending Stanley Cup champions back home you’re excited and you get up for that game, obviously. We’re going to be the same tomorrow night and Saturday. We’re going to try our best to win these two games and it’s going to be pretty exciting.”
Maurice says his team has played its best this season in games against teams they faced in the postseason, going 2-0-0 against the Boston Bruins, who they defeated in the Eastern Conference Second Round last season, and 1-0-0 against the New York Rangers, who they defeated in the Eastern Conference Final.
“There is an understood rivalry built into that game [with a past playoff opponent] so you can get to your emotional level,” he said.
But Maurice is confident his team will be up for Friday, as well as Game 2 on Saturday (Noon ET; Victory+, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN1).
“We have a lot of respect for Dallas even though we haven’t played them in a playoff series,” he said. “Our challenge this year has been rising to the emotional level we need to play our game against every team. It’s what we work on and what we talk about.”
The plot lines are thick and meaningful. The star power is undeniable. The connection to the crowd is unbreakable.
“Should be a great game,” DeBoer said with a smile.
