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The Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers have taken a break from their North American portion of the NHL schedule to play two games at Nokia Arena in Tampere for the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal. The games are Friday (2 p.m. ET; Victory+, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN), and Saturday (Noon ET; Victory+, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN1).

Panthers forward A.J. Greer will keep a blog with NHL.com throughout the Global Series, giving fans a taste of what life is like on the ground as they go through the experience in Finland. Greer’s first entry was written prior to the Panthers’ overnight flight to Helsinki following a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Monday.

BUFFALO — The excitement level is very high as we head to Finland.

Especially for the four Finnish guys on our team, Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola, we look forward to seeing them flourish in their home environment and enjoy every second.

For everyone else, it’s an opportunity to explore a new part of the world. Some guys have been there, some guys haven’t.

I haven’t been there personally, so I’m excited to check off another country on my bucket list and get out there, indulge in the culture and really just appreciate new surroundings.

On the flight there, I think we’ll be pretty comfortable with the seats reclining like a bed. After the game we’re going to be exhausted, so we’ll just be relaxing and trying to get as much as sleep as we can.

I did it once before when I went to Sweden with the Colorado Avalanche for the 2017 NHL Global Series. I have a book that I’ll read and there’s probably televisions on the plane, but I’ll probably just try to sleep.

I’m sure our trainers and strength and conditioning staff will have certain tricks and tips that we can use to better our bodies. We’ll try to get as much sleep as we can, and once we get there we’ll try to adjust as quickly as possible.

It’s going to be afternoon time when we arrive, so it is going to be an adjustment, but we have enough time before we play this weekend. So we’ll use the first couple days there to enjoy the experience and not really think about the hockey part of it.

I think we’re going to do a team outing to a sauna and a couple team dinners, so I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be pretty good.

I haven’t heard much about the atmosphere for the games in Finland, but when I went to Stockholm with Colorado, it was unbelievable with the excitement and the new fans that come into the building. They want to be part of the NHL culture and the experience, so not only is it an experience for us, but it’s an experience for them to be part of something that they don’t necessarily get to see often with us playing in North America.

So we hope to put on a show for the people there and do our best to make them excited and part of this whole NHL movement that we’re trying to build in growing the League.

Everyone is really happy for the Finnish players on our team. When we played the Los Angeles Kings in Quebec City during the preseason, I’m from a couple hours away in Joliette, Quebec, but it’s still kind of a cool feeling to be able to consider yourself back home.

So for ‘Lusty,’ ‘Lundy,’ ‘Barky,’ Niko, they’re great human beings and great players, and I wish them all the happiness in their journey back home. If they get to see family and friends, I hope they have the time to enjoy that and kind of put hockey aside because you don’t get to have these experiences much in your career.

I’m really happy for them and hope they enjoy it as much as possible.