October 3, 2018— Registering His First NHL Point
Opening night for the Anaheim Ducks was a pretty big deal. They were facing the San Jose Sharks, who had swept them in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs the season before. This was their chance at a little bit of redemption, showing the fans and the other teams all of the hard work they had put in over the summer.
Everyone was hoping the rookies would stand out, making their case for a full-time spot stronger. Sam Steel, Troy Terry, and Maxime Comtois were the three players the fans were looking forward to watching the most. Comtois didn’t hesitate to earn his moment in the spotlight when he scored his first NHL goal just 48 seconds into the opening period.
Aside from Comtois, the other rookies didn’t stand out too much. However, the surprise of the night was Kiefer Sherwood. Yes, he had impressed during camp and pre-season, but it was still unknown how he would really perform at the NHL level.
As the game wound down to a close, the Anaheim Ducks were up 4-2. The game had relied heavily on goaltending most of the evening. John Gibson stood on his head for the Ducks and Martin Jones let his weakness’ show and had a rather rough night.
To try and even things up, San Jose pulled Jones out of the net and opted for an extra skater. Kiefer Sherwood got the puck on his stick, speeding down the neutral zone towards the net. However, trailing right behind him was none other than Erik Karlsson, one of the most coveted defensemen in the NHL.
Karlsson attempted to pin Sherwood and the puck against the boards, in an attempt to get the puck back to his teammates up the ice. Sherwood held his ground, however, standing strong. He managed to get the puck to Ben Street, who deflected the puck off of Brent Burns. Carter Rowney used his quick thinking, swooping in and grabbing the puck before the Sharks had a chance to capitalize on an opportunity.
With no coverage in the net, he sent it home, giving the Ducks a 5-2 lead just seconds before the final buzzer was sent to go off. Although it was an empty netter, Sherwood’s tenacity in the final seconds of the game gave his team the upper hand against their opponents. This would set the pace for his performance throughout the rest of the season.