After losing in crushing defeat to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon, the Boston Bruins returned home to TD Garden to host the San Jose Sharks on Monday. The Sharks also lost to the Islanders and were on their own skid. The Bruins managed to defeat the Sharks 6-3 and get back into the win column.
First Period
It took until midway into the first period, but the Bruins grabbed the lead. After cycling the puck into the zone, Oliver Wahlstrom fed a pass to Jordan Oesterle. He fired a shot towards the goal that Vinni Lettieri deflected in. Four minutes later, the Sharks responded. After breaking out of their own zone, they dumped the puck behind the Bruins’ net. A Bruins’ miscue led to Nico Sturm gathering the puck and sending a pass to the front of the goal where Barclay Goodrow fired it home. The Bruins responded well and showed pushback after the Goodrow goal. The game went into the second period tied 1-1.
That entire first period was clean and neither team took a penalty. The Bruins held the slight edge in shot attempts (26-22), and outshot the Sharks 11-6. Scoring chances were very close and both teams generated quality chances against one another. It was a very high-event period for the Bruins who generated 1.51 expected goals. Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov was dialled in, stopping 0.51 goals saved above expected.
Second Period
The period had good pace to it with both teams taking to the attack. Sharks prized rookie Macklin Celebrini got a few good chances, but none would go. The Pavel Zacha line generated good possession into the offensive zone, leading to a power play, and the Bruins cashed in on it to take the lead. As they broke into the zone, the Bruins connected on five passes before David Pastrnak scored when a pass attempt deflected off a Sharks defenseman into the net.
The lead was short lived. After the Bruins turned the puck over in the neutral zone, the Sharks countered and Will Smith snuck a shot past Joonas Korpisalo to tie the game. The Sharks went to the penalty box once again, but killed it off and then grabbed the lead. Fabian Zetterlund glided into the zone and used his skill to get to the slot and fire a shot. He pounced on his own rebound and grabbed the lead for his team.
The Sharks showed tremendous pushback in this period and took a 3-2 lead into intermission. They held the edge in shot attempts during five-on-five play (25-13,) heavily outshot the Bruins 15-8, and got the better of the Bruins in quality chances. They held a wide margin in the expected goals share (1.47-0.69) and scored above their expected rate.
Third Period
Both teams traded chances to start the period. Nine minutes in, the Bruins tied the game. A good puck-cycling shift by Matthew Poitras, Charlie Coyle, and Brad Marchand led to the goal. Marchand fed a pass to Poitras, who found Coyle in the slot, who tied the game 3-3.
The Bruins fed off that goal and put pressure on the Sharks defense. A Marchand penalty led to quality chances for the Sharks, but Korpisalo made two great saves to keep the game tied. With just less than six minutes left in the period, Coyle got his second of the game. As he corralled the puck behind the net, he sent the puck to the front and it took a friendly bounce past Askarov. Marchand delivered the dagger by scoring an empty-net goal to make it 5-3 and Elias Lindholm added another empty-netter to round out the scoring.
The Sharks are right back in action tomorrow when they travel to Nashville to face the Predators. The Bruins are back in action Wednesday, Jan. 22 when they visit the New Jersey Devils.
