from Nicholas J. Cotsonika of the NHL's website,

This is Australia? The land Down Under? Half a world away? The Arizona Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings played the first NHL game in the Southern Hemisphere on Saturday, but it didn’t feel like the first time.

A sellout crowd of 13,097 -- the largest crowd ever to watch an ice hockey game in Australia, by far -- saw the Coyotes open the preseason with a 5-3 win at Rod Laver Arena in the 2023 NHL Global Series -- Melbourne.

For the most part, these were not novice fans. These were hockey fans.

They wore gear representing each of the NHL’s 32 teams. We know, because we checked off each NHL team to be sure. They wore gear representing former NHL teams, too, plus Australian Ice Hockey League teams, national teams and local teams.

They “oohed” when they were supposed to “ooh,” and they “aahed” when they were supposed to “aah.” They roared for scraps, cheered for goals and clapped to the music.

“The fans were definitely involved and cheering all game and kind of cheering after both teams scored, so it was fun to jump right into that NHL feel and atmosphere,” Coyotes forward Clayton Keller said.

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Below, and probably the only time I will embed game highlights of a preseason game, it Kings/ Coyotes highlights.