Vrana helped St. Louis to the win, but Zohorna’s goal was not enough for Pittsburgh. How did the Czechs do in the NHL preliminary games?

The NHL season kicks off on Friday, October 7, and as a result, preparations for the new season are in full swing. The Canadian-American competition offered seven games from Tuesday to Wednesday night, two of them featuring Czech hockey players.

The last NHL preparatory games for the new season also brought Czech participation. In the Buffalo vs. Boston game, two hockey players – Jiří Kulich (Buffalo) and Jakub Lauko (Boston) – played against each other.

The former was the happier player after the game, as the Sabres won 4:1. However, neither of the legionnaires scored a single point.

Pittsburgh was not helped by the Czech players’ points, Škarka did not score

The Czechs were much more successful in the Detroit-Pittsburgh game. Defenseman Libor Hajek and forward Radim Zohorna both scored for the Penguins.

Hajek had an assist on Zohorna’s goal, which opened the scoring. He then added an assist on Valtteri Puustinen’s goal.

However, two points from Zohorna and one point from Hajek were not enough for the Pens to win. The Red Wings won by one goal – 4:3.

In the duel between two New York teams, Rangers and Islanders, goalie Jakub Škarek played for the latter. He played the third period and although he didn’t score once, he couldn’t enjoy the victory like Zohorna and Hájek.

The Islanders lost 2:4. On the other hand, Radek Faksa had a very successful team night as Dallas blew out Minnesota 6:1. He contributed to the victory with one assist, while David Špaček on the other side of the barricade did not record a point.

Vrana helped St. Louis to victory!

And finally, the great story of Jakub Vrana. Last year, due to personal problems, he may not have thought he would ever get an opportunity with an NHL club again. But in the last third of last season, he was hired by St. Louis.

And Vrana is showing that this organization is a good fit for him in preparation for the new year. He scored 10 goals and assisted on four more in 20 games last season.

In the preliminary game against Columbus, he opened the scoring at 08:17, followed by Isaac Ratcliffe and Oskar Sundqvist. The Blues defeated the Blue Jackets 3:2 and have won two of the three meetings so far.

Source: NHL, Elite Prospects