It wasn't pretty but the Boston Bruins remain undefeated on the young season with a big win on the road against the San Jose Sharks. The Bruins scored twice 21 seconds apart in the first period to jump out to a lead. Captain Brad Marchand scored his first of the season while James van Riemsdyk pumped in his third. The Bruins added to the lead in the second period when David Pastrnak went down trying to score and the puck went in off his skate. The third period was the Sharks best period as Anthony Duclair got a lucky bounce past Linus Ullmark to put the Sharks on the board. The Sharks pulled the goalie with three minutes left and Marchand took a penalty with 36 seconds left to make it 6 on 4. The Bruins defense held on and beat the Sharks 3-1 at the SAP Center.
The first period belonged to the Bruins as they played a nearly flawless period. Trent Frederic nearly scored off the opening faceoff and neither team took a penalty the entire period. With 3 minutes left, Mike Hoffman was open at the point but his shot went off Hampus Lindholm's skate and out of harms way. Rookie John Beecher dished it to Brad Marchand who fired it in for Beecher's first career assist on Brad's first goal of the season. 21 seconds later there was a lot of traffic in front of Sharks goalie Kaapo Kahkonen and James van Riemsdyk tucked in a rebound to give the Bruins a two goal lead just like that. That was it for the first period with the Bruins leading 2-0 at the break.
Things got chippy right away in the second period as van Riemsdyk got cleaned out by Kyle Burroughs which was deemed a cross-check by the referee. The Bruins went on the powerplay but failed to cash in as Jake DeBrusk was called for hooking Duclair to put the Sharks on the powerplay. The Bruins killed it off and continued to get good defense from Brandon Carlo & Charlie McAvoy. With 3:14 left in the period, Carlo found Pastrnak on a breakaway who was checked by Marc-Edouard Vlasic.....only for the puck to bounce off David's skate into the net for a goal. Whoops! That was it for the period with the Bruins holding a commanding lead 3-0 going into intermission.
Lucky bounce for Pastrnak
The Sharks took control in the third period and it didn't help that Charlie Coyle tripped Luke Kunin 58 seconds into the period. The best scoring chances came from the Bruins actually as Brad Marchand had a wide open breakaway but couldn't it it past Kahkonen. Seconds later Pavel Zacha got stoned cold by Kahkonen all alone in front. 4:30 into the period Matt Geekie got open but fired wide of the net. Nico Sturm had Ullmark down with just over 15 minutes left in the game but missed the net. A few minutes later Kahkonen robbed Zacha again. Then the Sharks struck with 8:47 left as Lindholm shadowed Duclair who ended up throwing it off Lindholm's skate and in for the goal. Pastnak almost got the goal back with just over 5 minutes left and San Jose pulled Kahkonen with about 3 minutes left. The Sharks then caught a break when Marchand was sent off for hooking Thomas Hertl with 37 seconds left. The Bruins held on and had won the game 3-1.
Goalie hug
Awards:
John Beecher won the Carson Cooper Award for first Bruins (and career) assist.
James van Riemsdyk passed Jarno Kultanen, Mattias Timander and Jaromir Jagr on the Bruins all-time goal list with this 3rd Bruins goal.
Reaction:
That was a dominating performance that got sloppy in the third period. It was reported Bruins coach Jim Montgomery wasn't happy with their morning practice and it showed as they came out with fire against the Sharks. The two goals in 21 seconds set the tone and Ullmark ended up stopping 26 out of 27 shots for the victory. Hats off to Beecher who got his first career assist and Brad Marchand for his first goal of the season. Shockingly, Pastrnak is just 39 goals away from tying Cam Neely for 7th place on the all-time list while Marchand is now 22 away from tying Ray Bourque for 5th place. The third period got a little dicey but they survived. Like I mentioned in the previous two games, this is the same defense and goaltending that won the Vezina & Jennings trophies last year so even if the offense isn't what it was a year ago, they're still nasty in the back end. Barring injury they still should win quite a few games this year. The Bruins look to make it 4-0 on the season as they continue their west coast trip with a date with the Los Angeles Kings. The game begins this Saturday night at 10:30 PM Eastern time at the Staples Center.
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