2024 NHL Global Series recap

The NHL officially kicked off their season in Prague, Czechia as the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils played in the NHL Global Series. The Sabres also added an exhibition game to their schedule as well against EHC Red Bull München.

The Devils, who were plagued with injuries and bad goaltending last year took both games in the series. Jake Allen and newly acquired Jacob Markstrom had impressive games to secure the Devils both wins.

In the opening game on Friday in Prague, Markstrom racked up 30 saves while also adding an early save-of-the-year to his resume. He allowed one goal to Owen Power in the third period.

The Devils' offense also had a great showing. The offseason acquisitions of Jonathan Kovacevic and Paul Cotter scored in their Devils debut. Nico Hischier and Stefan Noesen also scored in Friday’s opener.

Outside of Power’s goal, the Sabres' first game with Lindy Ruff did not go to plan. Buffalo struggled to keep New Jersey out of their zone, and it resulted in a poor showing on both sides of the puck.

To add insult to injury for Buffalo, Zach Benson and Nicolas Aube-Kubel each left the game with a lower-body injury.

“They scored on their chances and took advantage of their chances,” Rasmus Dahlin said after the game. “We’ve just got to continue to build. We’ve got some stuff to work on.”

Game two of the Global Series was another trainwreck for the Sabres.

After a second-period goal from Tage Thompson, New Jersey stormed back. Seamus Casey netted his first NHL goal while Paul Cotter and Timo Meier also scored to give the Devils a 3-1 win.

Things continued to get worse for Buffalo as they saw JJ Peterka leave the game after taking a high hit from Devils defenseman Brendan Dillon. As a result of the hit, Peterka was diagnosed with a concussion.

The Devils had a great series but will have to keep this play up for 80 more regular season games. “It's the start of the season and toward the end of the year every team knows it, it could be a matter of two points, one point, so these are the ones that count,” Cotter said.

The Devils will play their home opener on Oct. 10 against Toronto, where they will look to stay hot to begin the season.

Lindy Ruff and company will have a couple more days to try and get healthy before their home opener against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

“You have to move on,” Sabres forward and Syracuse native Alex Tuch said. "If you dwell on it too much and if you look too far ahead, that's when things spiral out of control. We're 0-2 to start the year. It's not the end of the world, but we know we have to be better.”

Two games do not define the season. In the 2022-23 season, Lindy Ruff and his Devils squad started the year 0-2. They finished the season 52-22-8, the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.

This year’s NHL Global series was a huge success off the ice as well. Between NHL legend Jaromir Jagr dropping the puck, the Czech and Slovak Buffalo Sabres fan club and the crazy fan atmosphere, the product off the ice was super fun.

Brennan Kirkpatrick is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email him at blk5545@psu.edu.