Preds rally, grab sweep of San Jose

PRAGUE — Nino Niederreiter scored two goals as Nashville rallied to beat San Jose 3-2 on Saturday for a sweep of their two NHL regular-season opening games in the Czech capital.

Niederreiter capped the Predators’ rally 12 seconds after he returned to the ice from the penalty box with 7:47 to go in the second period in front of a crowd of 17,023 at O2 Arena. He wristed a shot past Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen from the right circle after receiving a pass from Eeli Tolvanen.

Niederreiter scored his first on a rebound at 4:35 of the second period to tie the game at 1. Filip Forsberg also scored for Nashville.

Luke Kunin and captain Logan Couture each had a goal, both assisted by Mario Ferraro, for San Jose, which had a 33-18 edge in shots.

The games in Prague were part of the 2022 NHL Global Series. They marked the NHL’S return to Europe for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

The Predators also beat the Sharks 4-1 on Friday, with Niederreiter scoring his debut goal for Nashville, which signed the Swiss-born right wing to a two-year, $8 million deal in July. Another top-tier newcomer, defenseman Ryan Mcdonagh, had an assist for Nashville for a second straight game.

The 2022 Global Series will be completed in Tampere, Finland, where defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado will face Columbus in another pair of regular-season games Nov. 4 and 5.

It is the ninth season the NHL has returned to Europe as part of its efforts to grow the local fan base in hockey-mad countries such as the Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland.