It was announced Thursday that the Colorado Avalanche will play the Columbus Blue Jackets in a pair of regular-season games at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland, on Nov. 4-5 as part of the 2022 NHL Global Series.

This is the ninth season the NHL has traveled to Europe for regular-season games. There have been 28 regular-season NHL games played in Europe, but these are the first to be played in Tampere.

The Avalanche have a Finnish forward on their top line in Mikko Rantanen, a native of Nousiainen. The team added another at the trade deadline in Artturi Lehkonen, who is from nearby Piikkio. The Blue Jackets have two Tampere natives in player Patrik Laine and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen. Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo hails from nearby Pori.

Colorado traveled to Stockholm, Sweden for the 2017 NHL Global Series, where it was swept by the Ottawa Senators in a pair of 4-3 decisions.

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