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NHL approves Stockholm for season openers

The National Hockey League will open the 2008-09 season with games in the Czech Republic and Sweden, league commissioner Gary Bettman announced on Saturday.

Published: 27 January 2008 10:02 CET
NHL approves Stockholm for season openers

The Ottawa Senators, featuring Swedish star Daniel Alfredsson will square off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Stockholm while the Tampa Bay Lightning will face the New York Rangers in Prague.

The teams will play each other twice, with games taking place on October 4 and 5.

The contests also will be played at different times to create a doubleheader for television viewers.

Each of the four teams also will play pre-season games in Europe.

“It is a delight to bring our game to more of our great international fans,” Bettman said.

“We’ve been in Stockholm many times before, including for the World Cup in 1996 and 2004,” he added.

“I think it’ll be pretty fun just to go away as a team,” Senators centre Jason Spezza said. “It’s a good way of growing the game globally and I think it’ll be a pretty fun time.”

NHL

It’s official: Sweden’s Lundqvist is the NHL’s best goalie

Sweden's Henrik Lundqvist made 12 straight saves to win the goaltender competition at the NHL all-star game's skill night.

Published: 26 January 2019 10:02 CET
It's official: Sweden's Lundqvist is the NHL's best goalie
Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers celebrates winning the Ticketmaster NHL Save Streak during the 2019 SAP NHL All-Star Skills contest on Friday in San Jose, California. Photo: Thearon W. Hender
The New York Rangers goalie knocked off Russian Olympian Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who held the lead through several rounds after stopping the first eight shots he faced. 
 
The skill contests held on Friday night in San Jose, California also saw Edmonton Oilers speedster Connor McDavid win his third straight fastest skater title in a competition that included a female participant for the first time.
 
Canada's McDavid charged around the rink in just 13.37 seconds to eclipse Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel, who finished in 13.58 seconds at the SAP Center arena.
 
Kendall Coyne, who plays on the American women's national team, was invited to take part and finished seventh out of eight skaters, beating out Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller. Coyne cruised to a time of 14.34 seconds while Keller, who has 11 goals and 35 points with the Coyotes this season, finished in 14.52. 
 
“I thought she was unbelievable,” McDavid said. “She was absolutely flying out there.” 
 
Last year, Coyne's teammate Hilary Knight did the accuracy shooting drill, but her impressive time wasn't included in the official results.
 
Johnny Gaudreau defended his title in the puck control contest with a time of 27.045, and John Carlson, who captured a Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals last season, won the hardest shot contest with a blast of 102.8 mph.
 
The NHL all-star game will take place on Sunday.