The Bruins avoided a bad loss to the Sharks on Monday afternoon with four third period goals.
Trailing the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, entering the third period Monday afternoon at the TD Garden, the Boston Bruins were looking at the real possibility of being buried in the standings in terms of the Eastern Conference playoff race. Unless they found a way to rally against the Sharks, they were facing the daunting task of playing the New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, and Colorado Avalanche in four days.
San Jose led the NHL with regulation losses when taking a lead into the third period with four and thanks to a pair of Charlie Coyle goals in the final 20 minutes and two empty-net goals sealed a much-needed win. Unlike Saturday against the Senators when they failed to close out the game in regulation, they found a way on Monday.
Bruins use puck luck to beat Sharks
When teams like the Bruins are struggling to put the puck in the net, you need some puck luck and that was the case Monday. Two of the six Boston goals were the result of huge puck luck. In the second period and tied 1-1, David Pastrnak took a shot that deflected off the stick of a San Jose defenseman, then off the leg of another defenseman and into the net. In the third period, Coyle scored the game-winning goal when he centering pass from behind the net deflected off of Sharks netminder Yaroslav Askarov and into the net.
One big takeaway from the box score was the numbers around some of the Black and Gold's top players. Coyle had two goals and an assist, Brad Marchand had a goal and an assist, Matthew Poitras had a pair of assists and Pastrnak had a goal and an assist.
Down the other end, Joonas Korpisalo made 25 saves, but he came up with the save of the game after Coyle tied the game and San Jose on the power play. Collin Graf had Korpisalo down and out in the slot, but the Bruins goalie made an incredible glove save to keep the game tied. Of course, the Bruins needed a save in the second period when Will Smith tied the game for the Sharks when he beat Korpisalo with his glove.
Things don't get any easier for the Bruins this week with a trip to the Devils on Wednesday, before hosting the Senators on Thursday and Avalanche on Saturday. Six points are available in four days and it feels like they need at least four or five points to avoid burying themselves in the standings with every team they're battling with having games in hand on them.
