Welcome to NHL.com, the official site of the National Hockey League

Bienvenue à LNH.com , le site officiel de la Ligue nationale de hockey

Tervetuloa NHL:n viralliselle nettisivustolle NHL.comiin

Välkommen till NHL.com, NHL:s officiella web-sida

Vítejte na NHL.com, oficiálních stránkách National Hockey League

Vitajte na NHL.com, oficiálnych stránkach National Hockey League

Willkommen auf NHL.com, der offiziellen Seite der National Hockey League

Bienvenido a NHL.com, el sitio oficial de la National Hockey League

PRAGUE -- When the San Jose Sharks jumped on a plane, headed for Berlin and, beyond that, Prague for the 2022 NHL Global Series, many of them barely knew each other. They set out with a new general manager, new front office, new coach, new staff, a bundle of new players, with new systems still to learn.

They had their first full-team practice at Wellblechpalast in Berlin and played their first NHL games together against the Nashville Predators on Friday and Saturday at O2 Arena in Prague. They lost both, falling 3-2 on Saturday after a 4-1 loss on Friday.

It was a picture of a team that's not yet fully formed, a team still learning what it is and what it could be.

"We've got a lot of new pieces," said forward Luke Kunin , himself new to the Sharks after spending the previous two seasons with the Predators. "I think we're competing hard. Played a lot better tonight than we did last night. It wasn't enough tonight, but I thought we did a lot of good things to give ourselves a chance to win."

Which made the results difficult, but also understandable.

"As much as we came over here to perform in front of their fans, we came here to get points and wins," Sharks coach David Quinn said. "Unfortunately, we didn't do it, but there's a long, long way to go. I like a lot of what I saw out of our team.

"Sometimes as a season evolves and you lose a game, you find out a bit more about your team, and that's what we're doing. There's a lot of newness to our group and we're going to build off of what we did tonight."

The Sharks had twice taken the lead in the game Saturday, going up 1-0 on Kunin's goal at 14:24 of the first period and 2-1 on Logan Couture 's at 4:45 of the second. But Filip Forsberg tied the game at 6:29 of the second and Nino Niederreiter got his second of the game moments after he got out of the penalty box, at 12:13 of the second period, providing the edge.

"I think we deserved to win that one," defenseman Mario Ferraro said. "It hurts."

Ultimately, the hope is that this trip will have lasting effects, even if it didn't bring them a point in the standings. The hope is that the Sharks will know each other better, will understand each other better, having navigated cobblestone streets on scooters and learned to pour Czech beer and eaten unfamiliar food.

The hope is that players who didn't know each other a month ago will become teammates and, so, as they learn to play together, their results will improve, that they will become a team that plays "fast-paced, hard hockey, committed hockey and honest hockey, selfless," as Ferraro put it.

[RELATED: Complete coverage of 2022 NHL Global Series, Czech Republic ]

For now, the Sharks were glad to see the strides taken, even just from the first game of the regular season to the second, from one night to the next.

"I liked a lot of our game tonight," Quinn said. "I thought it was a big improvement from last night. And that's what we need to focus on is incrementally getting better. Winning and losing will take care of itself. I'm proud of our guys. I thought we competed hard. I thought we cleaned up some of the things we weren't good at last night."

They left Prague on the highest hockey note of their trip, having played their best in the third period on Saturday, nearly tying the score at multiple points, including a good chance by Ferraro with 3:54 left in the period.

"Huge contrast to what we saw last night," Quinn said.

The plan for the Sharks now was to go back to San Jose, to rest and recover from a week outside of their norm, a week in which they got to see their Czech teammates - forward Tomas Hertl and defenseman Radim Simek -- showered with love and adulation from the fans at O2 Arena, but also a week in which they came up empty in the standings.

And the road ahead doesn't get a whole lot easier. After back-to-back games next Friday and Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks, the Sharks will jump on another plane for a four-game road trip through New York -- including a reunion for Quinn with the New York Rangers on Oct. 20 -- New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Over the next five days off, though, the Sharks know they will get a chance for more practices, for more face time, for learning exactly what Quinn is looking for out of them and for learning how close they can come to that ideal.

"It was a lot of fun. It was a cool experience," Kunin said. "Obviously two big games, obviously not happy with the result. We can build off this. Eighty more to go."

NHL.com is the official web site of the National Hockey League. NHL, the NHL Shield, the word mark and image of the Stanley Cup, Center Ice name and logo, NHL Conference logos, NHL Winter Classic name, and The Biggest Assist Happens Off The Ice are registered trademarks and the Stanley Cup Playoffs logo, Stanley Cup Final logo, Stanley Cup Qualifiers name and logo, NHL.TV, Vintage Hockey word mark and logo, The Game Lives Where You Do, NHL Winter Classic logo, NHL Heritage Classic name and logo, NHL Stadium Series name and logo, NHL All-Star logo, NHL Face-Off name and logo, NHL Premium, NHL After Dark, NHL GameCenter, NHL GameCenter LIVE, NHL Network name and logo, NHL Tonight name and logo, On The Fly, NHL Network Showdown name and logo, NHL Awards name and logo, NHL Draft name and logo, NHL Mascots, Hockey Fights Cancer, Because It's The Cup, NHL Green name and logo, NHL Vault, Hockey Is For Everyone, NHL Thanksgiving Showdown name and logo, NHL Centennial Classic name and logo, NHL Centennial Season logo, NHL100 Classic name and logo, NHL Global Series name and logo, NHL China Games name and logo, NHL Power Players name and logo, NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe name and logo, NHL Street name and logo, and Don't Miss A Moment are trademarks of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks and NHL team logos and marks depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective teams and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. © NHL 2022. All Rights Reserved. All NHL team jerseys customized with NHL players' names and numbers are officially licensed by the NHL and the NHLPA. The Zamboni word mark and configuration of the Zamboni ice resurfacing machine are registered trademarks of Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc.© Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc. 2022. All Rights Reserved. Any other third party trademarks or copyrights are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.