San Jose Sharks End Road Trip With Loss to Boston Bruins

With Joe Thornton returning to the place that brought him up, the Sharks look to redeem themselves against the Boston Bruins after an icy loss against the New York Rangers last game.

Bruins were on their toes in the first period, out-skating the Sharks. The Bruins’ defense was a little looser than the Sharks’, allowing for easy access into the zone, but not a lot of capitalization any opportunities in front of the net.

With a Burns penalty, the Bruins scored 13:57 into the period, giving Brad Marchand his first goal of the season. Three minutes later, the Sharks’ notched their first point with Logan Couture tipping in Patrick Marleau’s shot at 16:28 on the power play.

Sharks still appear to be weak on the penalty kill, with a couple of huge saves from Niemi to keep the Sharks in the game.

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The second period didn’t seem so bright either. Niemi looked stellar into the second period, but still lets a long snipe in on a Bruins power play from Tory Krug almost seven minutes in.

Bruins’ netminder Tukka Rask was looking on top Vezina form, but the Sharks, not so much, but the Sharks manage to get another one past Rask, by couture at 16:15.

Soon after, the Sharks finally gain the lead, with a goal tipped in by Joe Thornton from Joe Pavelski and Justin Braun.

Just as everything looked promising and another win seemed to be on the horizon, the Bruins attacked.

Finally comfortable with the lead, the Sharks begin to loosen up defensively, yet again, letting Bruin Seth Griffith land his first NHL goal, a wrist shot fed by Milan Lucic and Krug.

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Bruins’ Gregory Campbell tips one past Niemi as the Sharks begin to fall under 4-3 into the last half of the third. Several minutes later, the Shark’s biggest opportunity comes into play as Patrice Bergeron high sticked Justin Braun, drawing a double-minor. With four minutes on the man advantage, could the Sharks pull it together?

Not exactly. With Rask’s ability to see the puck everywhere, the Sharks couldn’t manage to sneak another goal past him to tie the game. The powerplay for the Sharks still looked weak, only seeming to gain entry into the zone by luck and barely managing to get shots on net.

Coach Todd McLellan made the choice to pull Niemi with just over a minute left in the game, and in the powerplay and the Bruins notch one more, with David Krejci throwing one in to seal the Bruins’ win.

The San Jose Sharks lost 5-3 and were only 1-for-3 on the power play.