Not much drama in a game you know you'll
likely lose. Squaring off against the best team in the NHL left little to be
answered save the final score. The visiting Boston Bruins scored in all three
periods to take a 4-2 win over a feisty Sharks lineup on Saturday night. San
Jose was out-gunned in pretty much every phase of the game, but they put up a
fight. Special teams would do them in, as the league's top ranked penalty kill
denied 4 San Jose power plays. The Bruins would also add a power play goal to
help squeeze 2 points out of the Sharks.
Having played 24 hours
earlier in Anaheim, and facing a rested Bruins team, things appeared to be
headed south right from the get go.
Brad Marchand staked the Bruins to
a 1-0 lead 63 seconds into the game. The Bruins assistant captain carried the
puck up the left wing before deeking Mario Ferraro out of his skates at the
blueline, out-skated Kevin Labanc and cut across the slot in front of Scott
Harrington before lifting a shot past James Reimer for his 12th goal of the
season.
The Sharks lost track of Craig Smith who made it 2-0 Bruins 4
minutes later, taking a Nick Foligno feed from the left side while he was
slipping to the slot, then lifted a shot that sailed over Reimer's left
shoulder for his 2nd goal of the season.
The Sharks cut into the
Bruins lead when Alexander Barabanov whipped a pass to the from of the net from
the right wing boards, where Logan Couture deflected it past Bruins goaltender
Linum Ullmark. Couture was floating toward the top of the crease from the left
wing when Barabanov found him. The Sharks captain redirected the puck 90
degrees on net and up over Ullmark's stick for his 15th goal of the season.
Things calmed down for the Sharks and they settled into a flow, but
couldn't generate many quality scoring chances against Ullmark.
The
Bruins opened the 2nd period with a pair of quality chances that were defended
by Reimer. Marchand almost put one past the Sharks netminder 6 minutes into the
period after a deflection landed on his stick, but his attempt clipped the
crossbar.
The Sharks made a push at the midway mark of the game and
kept the Bruins pinned in their own end for several minutes as Boston couldn't
get a change. On an icing call, Derek Forbort was responsible for a bench minor
for delay of game, because he changed on the icing when he was required to stay
on the ice.
San Jose would draw a pair of penalties in the period, but
the league's top ranked penalty kill denied San Jose.
San Jose tied
the game at 14:54 when Mario Ferraro threw a puck on net from the right point.
The puck hit Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm in the back, altering its
trajectory and fooling Ullmark. The goal was Ferraro's 2nd of the season.
San Jose went on the penalty kill after Matt Benning was sent off for
holding. Boston wasted little time converting. After the Bruins special teams
moved the puck around the Sharks zone with precision, David Pastrnak snapped a
shot from the slot to regain the lead.
Scott Harrington was sent off for interference right
before the 2nd intermission, but the penalty carried over to the 3rd period.
Once play resumed, the Bruins appeared to score a buffer goal, but the Sharks
challenged the play for offside. The Sharks lost what appeared to be an obvious
offside challenge 24 hours earlier in Anaheim, but this one was overturned.
That was irrelevant as Pasternak would bang home his 2nd of the game
at the 9:00 minute mark. The Sharks defense was a step to late to every pass
the Bruins made, and the sequence ended with a puck past Reimer. They
completely lost Pasternak after he beat Ferraro for control of the puck behind
the Sharks goal. He then coated over to the left post where he sat undefended
until Patrice Bergeron found him with a pass from the right side.
Game Notes: * Logan Couture snapped an 11 game goalless streak.
He last scored on December 7th when the Sharks hosted the Vancouver Canucks.
* Waiver pick up Michael Eyssimont was on the ice for warm ups, but
was a scratch before the game. Eyssimont was claimed from the Winnipeg Jets on
Friday.
* Erik Karlsson's 14 game assist streak came to an end. He
missed out at the final buzzer when a nice feed off his stick to Timo Meier
went snuffed out by goaltender Linus Ullmark.
* Matt Benning extended
his assist streak to 4 games with the primary assist on Mario Ferraro's goal.
* Bruins goaltender moved his personal record to an incredible 22-1-1
with the win.
