Nashville Predators crush Sharks in season opener. Here's what I learned | Estes

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC – About 4,800 miles from home, the Nashville Predators opened their regular season on an international stage Friday with a 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks in the first of two NHL Global Series games at a packed O2 Arena.

Kiefer Sherwood and Nino Niederreiter scored in their Preds’ regular-season debuts, Eeli Tolvanen added another goal and Juuse Saros totaled 22 saves to make it hold up by blanking the Sharks’ in the game’s final two periods. Matt Duchene added an empty-net goal in the final minute.

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It was a memorable opener that was hard-fought if not beautifully played. The Preds won their first European regular-season NHL game in front of an announced crowd of 16,648 that was largely favoring the Sharks and their two Czech players.

The second game of this series will be at 1 p.m. CT Saturday.

Here are a few observations from the scene:

Kiefer Sherwood scores on second line

The biggest surprise in John Hynes’ opening day lineup was that forward Philip Tomasino, a former first-round pick who played in 76 NHL games last season, wasn’t part of it.

Tomasino was a healthy scratch in favor of Sherwood, a new arrival from Colorado who hadn’t played more than 16 NHL games in each of the past three seasons with the Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks. Nonetheless, Sherwood scored the game’s first goal after only 61 seconds.

Sherwood impressed enough with his speed and offensive skill during training camp to be slotted into the second line with Ryan Johansen and Nino Niederreiter.

Hynes said that Tomasino remains “part of a competition that we feel in our forward group is still very much alive” despite lineup decisions for Game 1.

The Predators were able to travel to Europe with 27 players, meaning a more-than-usual seven scratches Friday: Tomasino, Mark Jankowski, Zach Sanford, Michael McCarron, Jeremy Lauzon, Jordan Gross and third goalie Connor Ingram.

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Welcome back, Saros

Enough Predators fans were in O2 Arena to hoist a resounding “JUUSE” during the opening words of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which they weren’t able to do during last season’s playoffs.

By the end of the first period Friday, Saros had already made a few nice stops, showing what the Predators lacked when he was injured while teammates were swept by the Colorado Avalanche. Not to say the Preds could have beaten the eventual champs with him, but Saros was clearly missed.

Penalties pop up again

The Predators picked up the game’s first three minor penalties (other than fights), the first of which led to the Sharks’ first goal an instant after it expired. San Jose needed 31 minutes to log its first penalty.

Nashville led the NHL in penalty minutes last season with 12:37 per game. No other team averaged more than 10:59.

A Prague homecoming

While the Predators’ fanbase has been well-represented in Prague, the local fans did lean toward the Sharks on Friday because of their two Czech players: Defenseman Radim Simek and forward Tomas Hertl, a Prague native who delighted many in O2 Arena by scoring San Jose’s first-period goal.

Hertl’s reception during introductions Friday was similar to what Predators defenseman Roman Josi experienced earlier in this trip in Switzerland, where his team played an exhibition game at his hometown arena against his old club SC Bern.

“It's going to be really special for him if it's even close to as special as it was for me,” Josi said. “Because it was unbelievable, a really emotional couple of days for me.”

The Predators were scheduled to play this Global Series game in 2020 against the Boston Bruins in Prague, but that was canceled by the COVID pandemic.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators crush Sharks in NHL opener. Here's what I learned