The NHL pre-season began in top form, with Logan Cooley pulling off a highlight-reel debut and the Arizona Coyotes playing four games in just over a day.

This weekend, the Arizona Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings have gone where no NHL team has gone before — roughly 8,000 miles to Australia.

In the league's first-ever games in the Southern Hemisphere as part of the NHL Global Series, the Coyotes prevailed by a 5-3 score in Game 1, and the Kings won 3-2 in Game 2 in front of sold-out crowds at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park.

Australians are known as passionate sports fans with an appreciation for rugged physicality. Amid the NHL's goal of turning more of those spectators into keen hockey fans, the roar that went up as Josh Brown and Jacob Doty squared off for a heavyweight tilt barely six minutes into the first period of Game 1 made the long journey and logistical challenges feel like an instant win.

But fear not, speed-and-skill fans. In his first game action ever in a Coyotes uniform, 19-year-old Logan Cooley made jaws drop with his high-effort spin-o-rama with 9:20 remaining in the second period — a goal so spectacular that seasoned hockey observers in the Eastern time zone felt validated in staying up for the midnight puck drop.

Perhaps the engravers should hold off for a minute on adding Connor Bedard's name to the Calder Trophy. Are we setting up for a new Sid-versus-Ovi-style rookie rivalry that could endure for years to come?

Add in Clayton Keller's cheeky goal off the back of Kings' starter Pheonix Copley to open the scoring and a solid 33-save outing from the Coyotes stopper Connor Ingram. The Desert Dogs came out of their first game with a 'W' against what's expected to be one of the top teams in the Pacific Division. Even after a one-goal loss in Game 2, they look like they could be poised to take a significant step toward respectability this season.

Meanwhile, the Coyotes organization also dealt with the organizational challenge of cobbling together suitable rosters to play not one but two pre-season games against the St. Louis Blues back in the U.S. on Saturday.

It kind of helps explain the news that the club signed a whopping 11 players to professional tryout agreements back on Sept. 13, doesn't it?

On top of the star prospect Cooley, the Coyotes made some NHL-caliber additions to their roster over the summer by bringing in forwards Jason Zucker and Alexander Kerfoot and defensemen Matt Dumba and Sean Durzi.

Those players all took the trip to Australia. Putting on a quality show for the local fans was Job 1. Team-building and chemistry experiments were also an important part of the mandate for coach Andre Tourigny.

Not surprisingly, none of the PTO players were summoned Down Under. All 11 saw ice in Saturday's two games against the Blues. 

In the early game at Enterprise Center, facing a lineup that included bona fide NHLers Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, and Colton Parayko with Craig Berube behind the bench, the Coyotes kept it close in a 3-2 loss.

Zach Sanford, who was part of the Blues' cup-winning team in 2019 and signed a one-year, two-way deal with Arizona last July, led the way offensively for his new team with a goal and an assist.

Game 2 was a neutral-site game — officially a home game for Arizona at Intrust Arena in Wichita, Kan. There, 6-foot-5 Tucson Roadrunners starter Ivan Prosvetov was between the pipes facing a Blues lineup that included Sammy Blais, Marco Scandella and some high-end prospects, including first-rounders Zach Dean, Zachary Bolduc and Jake Neighbours. The Coyotes came out on top with a 5-1 win thanks to a hat trick from legacy right wing Josh Doan, a second-rounder from 2021, and a tally from 2022 first-rounder Conor Geekie. Arizona also doubled up St. Louis in shots, 36-18.

When final assignments are made at the end of pre-season, Cooley and 2021 first-rounder Dylan Guenther, who is also in Australia, will have the inside track on securing the forward slots that are open for younger players. But Doan and Geekie look like they're both doing their best to stay in the conversation when the Coyotes reconvene next week.

The U.S.-based group has one more chance to show its stuff, with a Sunday game at 6 p.m. ET against the Dallas Stars at their AHL facility that's home to the Texas Stars, the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park.

And yes, there are also 10 other pre-season games on Sunday that don't involve the Coyotes. They kick off with the Columbus Blue Jackets visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins at 1 p.m. ET and wrap with three Pacific Division clashes at 8 p.m. ET: the Kings' North American group visiting the Anaheim Ducks, the San Jose Sharks hosting the Vegas Golden Knights and the Vancouver Canucks travelling to the Saddledome to take on the Calgary Flames.

Once they come back together, the Coyotes will visit Vegas next Friday. They'll wrap up their exhibition schedule with three games against the Anaheim Ducks before kicking off their regular season with a four-game road trip that starts in New Jersey on Oct. 13.

The NHL also has one more ambitious Global Series trip on its agenda this season. From Nov. 16 to 19, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings will each play two games as part of a four-day set at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.