Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist for the Nashville Predators in a season-opening 4-1 win against the San Jose Sharks in the 2022 NHL Global Series on Friday in Prague.
Eeli Tolvanen, Nino Niederreiter and Matt Duchene also scored, and Juuse Saros made 30 saves for Nashville.
Tomas Hertl scored in his return to his home country, and James Reimer made 28 saves for the Sharks.
Nashville scored on its second shift of the game.
Sherwood passed the puck out to defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who then slid it over to defensive partner Mattias Ekholm. His point shot was saved by Reimer, but the rebound went off the skate of San Jose forward Logan Couture and Sherwood poked it into the net for a 1-0 lead at 1:01.
San Jose had back-to-back power plays in the first period, and Hertl scored six seconds after the first expired to tie the score 1-1.
San Jose forwards Timo Meier and Luke Kunin collided while pursuing the puck in front of the Nashville crease. Kunin made a short pass to Hertl to the side of the net and he scored up high at 8:36.
Saros made five saves during the second power play to keep the score tied 1-1 after the first period.
Tolvanen gave the Predators a 2-1 lead at 1:24 of the second period. Cole Smith brought the puck across the San Jose blue line and left it for Tolvanen, who scored on a slap shot from just above the left circle.
Niederreiter, who signed with the Predators in the offseason after spending the past 3 1/2 seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, scored off a 2-on-1 with Dante Fabbro to extend the lead to 3-1 at 15:14 of the second period.
Sherwood, who has bounced back and forth between the NHL and the minors the past four seasons, assisted on the goal for the second multipoint game of his NHL career.
Duchene scored into an empty net to make it 4-1 with 32 seconds left.
Both teams went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
The teams will meet again Saturday at the same venue, O2 Arena, where attendance was announced at 16,648 for the season opener.
–Field Level Media