The Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks will be playing in the 2022 NHL Global Series to begin the 2022-23 season, according to a press release from the league. There will be two exhibition games and four regular season games that will be played in four international cities.
The 2022 NHL Global Series will mark the first time that the league will hold international games since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past, the league has held 32 preseason games and 28 regular season games in Europe, all as part of the NHL Premiere Series (2007-11) and the NHL Global Series (2017-19).
The Predators and Sharks will face off to open the 2022-23 season with a pair of games at the O2 Arena in Prague on Oct. 7 and 8. The O2 Arena has been the site of five NHL regular season games since 2008. The NHL last played at the O2 Arena was when the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-3, on Oct. 4, 2019.
Nashville will also participate in a preseason contest against SC Bern of the Swiss National League at PostFinance Arena in Bern, Switzerland on Oct. 3. Meanwhile, San Jose will take on Eisbaren Berlin of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin on Oct. 4.
This marks the first time that the Predators will be playing in Europe. Nashville's only previous international game came when the Predators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on Oct. 6, 2000.
The Avalanche and Blue Jackets will do battle in a pair of games at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland on Nov. 4 and 5. Colorado previously played in the 2017 NHL Global Series when they faced the Ottawa Senators for two games in Stockholm on Nov. 10 and 11, 2017.
The 2022 NHL Global Series matchups in Tampere will be the first two regular season games ever played in the Finnish city. Tampere previously hosted NHL preseason games in 2009 and 2010.
