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Quick Bite: Sharks drop third straight game, lose 6-3 in Beantown

Well… It didn’t take long for the Boston Bruins (27-23-6) to take the lead on the San Jose Sharks (33-18-4), as David Backes scored just 52 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead. The Bruins didn’t have too much trouble with the Sharks all night, as Boston came away with a 6-3 victory.

However, at the 12:09 mark of the first period, Joe Thornton put a wicked wrist shot on net and it beat Boston’s Tuuka Rask for his fourth goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1. It was Thornton’s first non-empty net goal of the season too.

Late in the period the Sharks had a solid scoring chance, but they were denied on their attempt, which led to a rush the other way for the Bruins. Brandon Carlo threw a puck to the net and it was deflected by Backes and slammed home by Patrice Bergeron for his 14th goal of the season to allow the Bruins to retake the lead 2-1 with 4:08 remaining in the first.

The Sharks were then assessed with a too many men penalty, handing the Bruins a power play. Boston was able to capitalize on the man-advantage to push the lead to 3-1. Bergeron fed David Pastrnak a beautiful pass, and he rifled the puck past Martin Jones.

Martin Jones continued his rough stretch over the past two periods where he has given up 7 goals, including the overtime goal to Evander Kane on Tuesday against Buffalo.

Aaron Dell relieved Jones of his goaltending duties after the first period, as Jones stopped just 9 of the 12 shots he faced.

The Sharks cut the Bruins’ lead in half, to 3-2, early in the second period after Justin Braun slung a shot at Rask from the point, and it deflected off of a Bruins defender and went past the Boston goalie. Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture picked up the assists on Braun’s third goal of the season.

In his first seven minutes in net, Dell made five saves, with three of the Boston shot attempts being serious threats toward adding another tally to their score.

With 9:21 remaining in the second period, Paul Martin picked up a tripping minor for the Sharks’ second penalty of the game. The Sharks had two shorthanded opportunities in the first minute of the penalty kill, but Rask was able to turn away shots by Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Joel Ward. San Jose was able to kill off the penalty with ease.

The Bruins put out their fourth line following their power play being wiped out, and they were able to cash in on their opportunity against the Sharks top line to push the lead back to two goals at 4-2 with 6:54 left in the middle frame. Tim Schaller received credit for the goal, his seventh of the season, and it was assisted by Dominic Moore and Riley Nash.

Two minutes later, Joe Pavelski was wide-open in front of the Bruins net and had a beautiful rebound opportunity, but his backhanded shot hit off of the iron and into the protective netting.

With 2:17 left in the second period, Chris Tierney picked up another penalty for the Sharks. Pastrnak added his second power play goal of the night in the second minute of the power play to put the Bruins up 5-2.

San Jose picked up their first power play of the game two minutes into the third period after a Bruins player closed his hand on the puck. The best look the Sharks had on the power play was a wrist shot by David Schlemko that was deflected in front, but Rask covered up for the save.

There was some solid up-and-down action throughout the third period, with Dell and Rask turning aside each shot attempt by their opponents. The Sharks received a power play with 4:47 remaining in regulation.

The penalty was killed off, but the Sharks were able to score their third goal of the game, as Timo Meier was able to get the puck past Rask to give San Jose a fighting chance with just over 2:30 remaining.

With Dell on the bench for the extra attacker, the Sharks had some decent offensive chances, but Brad Marchand was able to score the empty net dagger to end the Sharks’ chance at a comeback.

Dell ended up playing much better than Jones against Boston. Dell saved 18 of the 20 shots he faced, compared to Jones giving up three goals on 12 shots.

Notes:

  • Joe Thornton’s goal was his first even-strength goal with a goalie in the net since April 2016 against the Winnipeg Jets. It was his first even-strength goal on the road with a goalie in net since February 22, 2016 against the St. Louis Blues.
  • After winning six of seven games with Michael Haley out of the lineup, the Sharks have now lost all three contests since Haley rejoined the fourth unit.
  • Brent Burns’ 14-game road point streak ended as he was not on the scoresheet for either of the Sharks’ goals./

Fear the Fin Three Stars:

  1. David Pastrnak
  2. Patrice Bergeron
  3. David Backes
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