Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues speaks after Florida's 6-4 win over Dallas in Finland on 11-1. The first leg of the 2024 NHL Global Series in Tampere, Finland went fairly well for the Florida Panthers. Despite suiting up as the visiting team, Florida felt right at home playing at Nokia Arena, jumping out to an early lead and never trailing en route to a 6-4 victory over the Dallas Stars. It was a great night for the Panthers, but particularly their four Finnish players, who all shared in the spotlight while playing on their native land. Naturally, the night meant something uniquely special for each of them. For Panthers Captain Sasha Barkov, playing an NHL game in the same area he grew up had to hit different. Let’s get to Friday’s Finnish hockey takeaways: BIG NIGHT FOR BARKOV The Panthers have four Finnish players on their roster, and they have all been in the spotlight during Florida’s NHL Global Series visit. Still, Bakov has been one of the most popular hockey players in Finland for well over a decade. That’s why the concern about Barkov’s lower-body injury that kept him out of action for three weeks had the attention of far more than just the hockey fans in South Florida. Fortunately for everyone, Barkov healed up and returned to Florida’s lineup ahead of their trip across the pond to Finland. Now that he’s back home and feeling great physically, it’s no surprise that Barkov put on a show on Friday. He finished with a goal and three assists, one of which was shorthanded, while winning eight of the 11 faceoffs he took and earning a plus-3 on-ice rating. “We're happy for him, but I think maybe we've seen that game from him, and we get to see it quite often, that's why he’s a star in our league,” Maurice said. “It's so nice that the people that were a part of his development, and not just his hockey development, but the teachers in town. I asked him if he lived near here, and he said, ‘About a mile,’ and both schools he went to (as well), so his life is right here, it's in this area. So there's a lot of proud Finns tonight, from his third grade teacher to his pee wee hockey coach to all the people who had a piece of his development. It seems right because he is a special man, and he’s a special person to our team, so everybody's cheering for him.” FUN GAME TO WATCH As for the game itself, there was a lot happening on the ice to get the fans going. High-end chances went both ways and the goals came fast and furious. Not exactly the kind of game either coach would be particularly happy with, but better for Maurice as he came out on the winning end. Still, don’t be surprised to see a tighter checking, more playoff-like game on Saturday. “So 10 goals,” Maurice began. “Neither coach is particularly happy about that, but there was probably another 10 that didn't get finished. The Dallas Stars are incredibly skill team. I think they're the most skilled team in the league. So they possess the puck, they're never out of the game, they actually become more dangerous as the game went on. We get the lead, that's when they become more dangerous, because their risk profile changes just a bit. They still respect the game, that's why they always compete for the for the Cup every year. It was a lot, they had an awful lot of good chances to score, so it was not a boring hockey game. There was lots going on at both ends. Pete (DeBoer) and I are going to try to bore the hell out of you tomorrow, if we can get it to that.” Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAwNjE3OTM2NjIzMjQ4NDky/img_6014.jpg] GREAT CROWD OF SMART HOCKEY FANS One thing that became apparent to both the players on the ice and the coaches behind the bench was that they were in the presence of some genuinely wise hockey fans. Asked to assess the crowd after the game, Maurice had some genuine words of respect for the Finnish faithful. “In markets where the game has been there for 100 years, they make ooh’s and aah’s at the right time,” Maurice explained. “When there's a play that's really close, but it's kind of a subtle play, or somebody does something special with the puck, you can hear that they notice that. I would call it a sophisticated crowd. The people who came tonight have seen an awful lot of hockey, they know when something's going to happen before (it happens), they could feel it build, the play develop, and there's an excitement there. 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