Thomas, Bruins Drop Sharks Late (10/13/07)

The bad news was the Boston Red Sox lost Game 2 of their American League Championship Series to the Cleveland Indians but the good news was the Boston Bruins defeated the San Jose Sharks. Tim Thomas was in net for this one and he dominated the Sharks, stopping 26 of 27 shots on the night. The real story of the game was the ending. Patrice Bergeron scored in the first period and the game was 1-0 with one minute left in the game. Then old friend Joe Thornton set up Milan Michalek to tie the game with 38 seconds left. There would be no overtime as with 12 seconds left in regulation, Aaron Ward scored to give the Bruins the lead back. That was it as the Bruins had won the game 2-1 over the Sharks at the HP Pavillion.

                                                         Patrice Hollis approves of the win

Things got chippy 4:02 into the first period when Craig Rivet of the Sharks and Marco Sturm of the Bruins got tangled up and poked at each other with their sticks. Both were sent off to the penalty box but nothing came of it. 9:12 into the period Andrew Alberts got sent off for hooking but San Jose failed to score on the power play. With just under 8 minutes to play Dennis Wideman blasted a shot off of Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov and Peter Schaefer almost put in the rebound. With 7:03 left in the period Mike Grier went off for interference but the Bruins failed to score on the powerplay. With 3:37 left Glen Murray passed it to Sturm who fired one off Nabokov, Patrice Bergeron dumping it on off the rebound to give the Bruins the lead. That's how the period ended with the Bruins up 1-0.

                                                         Bergeron scores

Things got hairy in the second period as Ward got sent off for hooking 1:18 into the period then literally 20 seconds after he got out of the box, he sent the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. On the powerplay Milan Michalek was wide open in the slot but Thomas stoned him cold. The Bruins went on the powerplay 6:40 in the period when Rivet went off for interference but failed to score. They got another chance when Torrey Mitchell went off at 9:10 but again failed to score. The Sharks then failed to score on a powerplay after Wideman got sent to the box for hooking with 7:15 left in the period. With 3:20 left Grier passed it to Jonathan Cheechoo who damn near put it passed Thomas, but Tim made a great save to keep the game scoreless. The Bruins went into intermission still up 1-0.

                                                    Save by Thomas!

The third period got off to a rocky start when Sturm got sent to the penalty box for hooking 4:11 into it to put the Sharks on another powerplay. On the powerplay, Ryan Clowe was open for a one timer but somehow Thomas made the save to keep the game scoreless. With under 9 minutes left Marco Sturm had a great chance to score but Nabokov made the save. It looked like the Bruins were gonna get the goose egg but it wasn't to be after San Jose pulled Nabokov. Christian Ehrhoff blasted one off of Thomas that Joe Thornton kicked out to Michalek. Michalek scored with 38 seconds left to tie the game and Bruins fans groaned. San Jose fans celebrated but the Sharks lost focus long enough for Bergeron to pass it to Sturm. Sturm skated around the net and passed it to Ward for the one time SCOREEEEEEE! The Bruins had re-taken the lead with just 14 seconds left. The Sharks couldn't do anything in 14 seconds and the Bruins had won the game 2-1.

                                                     Bruins pile on Ward

Reaction:

What a game! One thing is for sure, this is a pretty nasty defense to start the season. Coach Claude Julien has the team hunting for goose eggs rather than having the Mike Sullivan bombs away offense of just two years ago. Bergeron is becoming a defensive menace at the forward spot and the 6'9 Chara is a game changer. Andrew Ference isn't afraid to throw his weight around and Ward got the biggest goal of the game tonight. Its a good thing he scored otherwise he would have been laughed at for committing a penalty after coming out of the box for another penalty. The Bruins have now played 5 games and have at least been in all five of them, winning three. Tim Thomas had a hell of a game and so far the tandem of him and Manny Fernandez have been thriving so far. Maybe the Bruins have something going this season. The Bruins are now off until Wednesday night when they come home to play the the Tampa Bay Lightning. The game begins at 7:30 PM at TD Garden.