By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter/X @RyanJBosworth
The Boston Bruins were back on TD Garden ice this evening for a matchup with Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks. Tonight’s game was the second of two games before the Bruins head back out on the road for two away games this week.
Coming into tonight’s game, Boston sits atop the Atlantic Division. Their most recent game was a 6-0 win over the Nashville Predators, where they improved their record to 8-2-1. San Jose sits in fourth place in the Pacific Division, with a record of 6-4-1, and their most recent game was a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Back and Forth Start
The Bruins came out of the gates buzzing, and got themselves right on the board within the first four minutes. The Bruins’ third line, who has arguably been the Bruins best line, cash in again. Casey Mittelstadt notches his 100th career goal, and Elias Lindholm and James Hagens assist.
The Bruins were, unfortunately, unable to build any momentum on the goal, as San Jose was able to tie things up on the power play. This is kind of where the Bruins began to struggle. It wasn’t a massive struggle, but the little things they did really well against Nashville on Thursday weren’t there to start the game. They’d conclude the first period with a tied score of 1-1, with some good things to build on but some certain work to be done.
Power Play Struggles… Again
Once again, the Bruins’ power play is their kryptonite. They just could not generate any consistent offense while on the man-advantage. Both Boston and San Jose would register goals this period.
Boston’s goal came thanks to newly-paid Marat Khusnutdinov, and the second line’s impressive puck work in front of San Jose’s net. He scooped up a loose puck, skated in front of the crease, and buried it top corner off the backhand. Boston’s lead, however, was pretty short-lived.
San Jose’s goal was an ugly, short-handed goal that was certainly preventable. Again, it came down to overthinking the small details, as Charlie McAvoy passed up an easy breakout pass that would’ve had Boston in the offensive zone.
McAvoy opts for a more difficult pass to Pastrnak, who passes it back to Lindholm at the Bruins’ blueline, and he gets picked off by Kiefer Sherwood. Sherwood is able to go in all alone on Jeremy Swayman and bury it to tie the game at two apiece. The Bruins’ power play continued to be a struggle for Boston, but they came out of the second with a 2-2 tie.
Getting Worse Before Better
The theme of the final frame tonight was certainly that the Bruins got worse before they got better. They’d succumb to a San Jose goal less than five minutes into the final frame, and of course, it came on a San Jose power play. Dmitry Orlov hammered a shot from the point right past Swayman to put the Sharks up by a goal.
Shortly after, the Bruins would be penalized again. This time, captain David Pastrnak gets called for a tripping call with just over 13 minutes remaining in the period. Boston was, luckily, able to stave off another Sharks power play goal, and Pastrnak jumped out of the box at the conclusion of his penalty and joined the rush up-ice.
JJ Peterka was carrying the puck in what was a crowded 3-on-2, sent the puck cross-ice to Pastrnak, who buried it low on the blocker side. The Bruins have some life, thanks to their captain, and they were right back in this game.
30 seconds later, it was a whole different game. The Bruins’ third line of Casey Mittelstadt, Elias Lindholm, and James Hagens have been one of the Bruins’ best and most consistent lines, and that stood true tonight as well. Elias Lindholm was denied a scoring opportunity by Nedeljkovic, but James Hagens was able to grab the rebound and bury it under Nedeljkovic’s pads.
But hold on, as the Bruins weren’t done. with eight minutes remaining in regulation, Fraser Minten added a fifth goal, putting the Bruins up by two after being down by a goal at the start of the period — hence the theme of things getting worse before they got better. The icing on the cake with his goal was that it came on the Bruins’ four-minute power play after Morgan Geekie took a stick up high that left him bleeding.
The Bruins now had some much-needed insurance, and it would come into play as San Jose’s Will Smith was able to shorten the Bruins’ lead to just one goal, when he scored an even strength goal 27 seconds after Fraser Minten added another to the Bruins’ lead.
Now, with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation, against a very young and skilled Sharks team, the Bruins were grasping to just a one goal lead. Certainly not ideal considering the Bruins’ mental lapses throughout the evening.
With just under two minutes remaining, San Jose pulls Nedeljkovic and deploys a sixth skater in an attempt to knot this game at five apiece. The Bruins are fortunate enough to stave a late-game push from San Jose’s top talent, and with 30 seconds remaining in regulation, Will Borgen buries the empty netter from the neutral zone to put the Bruins up by two for a second time.
The Bruins finish out the final 30 seconds of the game, and they win their ninth on the year, despite how ugly some of their struggles were. There was a lot to clean up tonight, but it certainly speaks to the way this group was able to come out on top despite all of their struggles.
Stats from tonight:
- James Hagens had his second two-point game of the season. He scored his first goal at TD Garden this season and is in first place for rookie scoring (4-5-9)
- Casey Mittelstadt recorded his 100th career goal tonight
- Elias Lindholm, Fraser Minten, JJ Peterka, Casey Mittelstadt recorded multi-point nights, along with James Hagens.
- The Bruins had six different goal scorers tonight
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