Sharks Fall 6-3 to Bruins Despite Outshooting Boston 38-26
San Jose got a power-play goal from Ivar Stenberg and a 2-point night from Macklin Celebrini, but Boston scored twice in every period at SAP Center.
Pull up a stool, because this one stings. The San Jose Sharks lost 6-3 to the Boston Bruins at SAP Center, and the single thing that decided it was simple: Boston scored 2 goals in the first, 2 in the second and 2 in the third, and the Sharks could only answer with 1 each time. The Sharks slip to 3-3-0 overall and 2-2-0 at home. Boston moves to 5-2-0 and leads the season series 1-0.
Here's the part that makes me want to throw a sourdough loaf at the wall (gently, I respect the bread): the Sharks outshot the Bruins 38-26. Jeremy Swayman stopped 35 of those 38 for a .921 save percentage. Yaroslav Askarov stopped 20 of 25 for .800, and he was beaten 5 times before Boston added a 6th into an empty net. Good effort, bad bounces, worse goaltending math. That's the ballgame.
How it got away
- First period: Fraser Minten opened the scoring at 12:55 to make it 1-0 Boston. Jacob Trouba tied it at 15:29 (assists to Kiefer Sherwood and Dmitry Orlov). Then Charlie McAvoy scored at 18:43, and the Sharks went to the room down 2-1.
- Second period: Ivar Stenberg scored his first career NHL goal at 5:48 off a feed from Celebrini, with Orlov also getting an assist, and it came on the power play. Good for him! But Matthew Poitras answered at 8:42 to make it 3-2, and then Pavel Zacha scored at 19:57, with 3 seconds left in the period, to make it 4-2. (Giving up one with 3 seconds on the clock is the sort of thing that makes a fan stare into the fog and reconsider his life choices.)
- Third period: Celebrini made it 4-3 at 5:04, another power-play goal, and for a few minutes the building had a pulse. Then Minten got his second of the night at 11:47 to make it 5-3, and William Borgen sealed it with an empty-netter at 18:18.
The fight
Shortly after the Celebrini goal, Darnell Nurse and Nikita Zadorov dropped the gloves at 6:40 of the third. Fighting majors for both. I always say a team that's down a goal and starts swinging is trying to tell you something. I just can't tell you what it was.
Who showed up
Minten was the first star with 2 goals on 4 shots. McAvoy, the third star, scored for Boston in 24:41 of ice time. Celebrini, the second star, had 1 goal and 1 assist on 5 shots and won 9 of 11 faceoffs (81.8 percent). Orlov had 2 assists. The man advantage was the one thing that worked: San Jose went 2-for-4 while Boston went 0-for-2.
Beyond that, the Bruins blocked 19 shots to San Jose's 9, which is a big reason 38 shots became only 3 goals. The Sharks had a goal waved off, too. On the replay, Mason Lohrei's apparent goal for Boston was disallowed for goalie interference on Askarov, so give the officials a nod there. Hits were close, 28 for San Jose and 25 for Boston.
My take, and it's only my take: the shot count says the Sharks played well enough to win a lot of nights like this one. The bigger question is whether they can stop giving up goals in pairs. That's a worry.
What's next
The Sharks head to Nashville to face the Predators on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 8:00 p.m. ET. Bring a sweater. Bring two.
