Finnish players lead way for Panthers in Global Series sweep against Stars

TAMPERE, Finland -- For two days, "Barkov City" also became "Panthers City."

With Aleksander Barkov leading the way, the Florida Panthers made themselves at home in their captain's hometown and completed a sweep of the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal with a 4-2 victory against the Dallas Stars at Nokia Arena on Saturday.

The Panthers (9-3-1) not only won both games against the Stars (7-4-0), including their 6-4 victory here on Friday, but won all five games on their road trip that also included games against the New York Rangers on Oct. 24 (3-1), the New York Islanders on Oct. 26 (6-3) and the Buffalo Sabres on Monday (5-2).

"It was a great, great week for us," Barkov said. "First, we were in New York for a week and Buffalo and then came here and spent a good week here with the team. Obviously, we had a really good chemistry before, but it feels like spending so much time together and doing different activities like going to sauna, going to dinners and eating Finnish food together, for some of the guys the first time, that obviously makes the chemistry on the team better.

"Then, I think the cherry on top was these two really hard games that we played against Dallas and coming up with the win in both games. It was amazing."

After Florida won the Stanley Cup for the first time last season, Barkov celebrated with it on July 31 in Tampere, which was dubbed "Barkov City" for the day. This time, the 29-year-old center brought the entire Panthers team home with him.

They undoubtedly enjoyed the visit.

Each of Florida's four players from Finland had at least one point in the two games. Barkov had the most with five (one goal, four assists), following up his four-point (one goal, three assists) performance Friday with an assist on Matthew Tkachuk's power-play goal in the second period Saturday.

Defenseman Niko Mikkola had two assists in the two games, center Anton Lundell had a goal on Friday, and left wing Eetu Luostarinen got in on the action with his assist on Sam Reinhart's empty-net goal with 1:00 remaining in the third period Saturday.

In fact, of Florida's 10 goals in the Global Series, nine were either scored or assisted by a player from Finland. The lone exception was A.J. Greer's goal from the right circle that broke a 2-2 tie 2:32 into the third period Saturday. Greer is Canadian.

"That's a lot of Finns on the scoresheet. Love to see it," Luostarinen said. "I think that tells everybody that the Finnish-born players were ready to play and give their best."

It wasn't just the Panthers' Finnish players, though. The Panthers were impressive in dispatching the Stars, who reached the Western Conference Final the past two seasons and are one of the best teams in their conference again this season.

In the process, they seemed to send a message that the road to the Cup could go through Florida again this season.

But this week, which began with two days in Helsinki before traveling to Tampere by train on Thursday, had more value for the Panthers than four points in the standings.

"I think that teams that have gone to Global Series usually have very good seasons," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "I hope we made the most of our opportunity here. I think we have. I don't know if that's the wins are the most important thing. The most important thing is the connections that you can make in your room in an unusual space. … That's the value of doing something unusual like this and it's been great.

"I think this is the longest five-game road trip in NHL history for miles. So, we should get something out of this."

After being on the road for 11 days, the Panthers will fly back to Florida on Sunday with priceless memories to go along with the two wins and whatever souvenirs they picked up along the way. There was a team trip to the sauna in Helsinki on Wednesday, sampling of various Finnish foods at team dinners, wearing their Panthers sauna robes to each of the games and even a visit from Finland President Alexander Stubb and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo to their postgame locker room Saturday.

It was the most special for Florida's four players from Finland, though. Two sellout crowds and loved ones who usually don't get to them see play in the NHL were treated to two victories and a total of two goals and seven assists from the Finnish players.

"As a Finn, growing up playing and to be able to get this opportunity to come back to your home country and play in front of basically everybody you know has been awesome," Lundell said. "I'm really happy to see that we got a lot of goals and assists here as well, but, obviously, for us maybe the biggest thing is to walk away with two wins.

"Two really hard games and we were able to battle through, but obviously very happy to see that all our Finns played really well here."