Matt Benning is writing a blog for NHL.com while the San Jose Sharks are in Europe this week. They lost 4-1 to the Nashville Predators at O2 Arena in Prague on Friday in the 2022 NHL Global Series to open the regular season and will play them there again Saturday (2 pm ET; NHLN, BSSO, NBCSCA).
There was a lot going on today. It’s felt like a long day. We’re still trying to get used to the time zone change and an 8 o’clock game is tough — but everyone’s going through it. Thursday night, we went out for dinner and then just headed back to the hotel and shut it down. Although we’re in Prague, we still have a job.
Waking up was a little bit later than normal. Everything was kind of pushed back, leaving a dull time in the afternoon. Some guys nap, some guys don’t, but you still have lots of extra time. So you’ve got to keep your brain going and not just lay around.
I’m a big napper. I nap two hours before every game. Some guys are more like half an hour. That’s just everyone’s routine — some guys are longer, some are shorter, some guys don’t even nap.
It was great to hear everybody cheer for Tommy Hertl out there and especially for him to score that goal for us. That was awesome. Super happy for him. He’s a leader for us. He plays the right way. He’s back, helping in the defensive zone, and then he’s a horse up front. He’s winning battles down low, taking the pucks to the net in good spots, winning draws, stuff that’s hard to do. Not everybody does it. I think he needs to get more credit for what he does.
It was a different atmosphere for sure here in Prague. They were loud. The arena’s different. The benches are different. Everything’s just a little bit different. I think it depends player to player, but for me when I stepped on that ice, I totally tuned out the crowd. I don’t even know they’re there. I just focus on what I need to do. I think it depends on how serious you are for the game — some people play better when they’re a little bit more loose, where some are more serious.
As for the game, everyone was excited to start the season. Everybody’s healthy, everybody’s jumping. It was a fast-paced game out there. I thought our legs were pretty good in the first period and parts of the second. They got some chances, we got some chances. We hit two posts and a crossbar and James Reimer made some big saves, saving that 2-on-0. The other goals he didn’t really have a chance on. I think the game was a lot closer than the score was. I think there’s stuff we can definitely work on in this group. But all in all, there’s stuff to be proud of and some building blocks there.
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