The San Jose Sharks faced off against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, in a game with playoff implications for both sides.
The Sharks’ top line got a quality chance on their first shift of the night, but a couple of whiffs allowed Jeremy Swayman to cover the puck. The Bruins were getting more shots than the Sharks early in the opening frame, but weren’t generating high quality chances.
William Eklund and Michael Misa connected on a nice passing play out of the neutral zone. Eklund got the puck to Misa with a wide open net in front of him. The rookie scored to make it 1-0 for the Sharks.
John Klingberg was called for the first penalty of the night just over seven minutes into the game when he mistimed a check and took down Casey Mittelstadt along the boards. The Sharks would go on to kill off the penalty.
Ryan Reaves got a chance from the slot late in the first period, which immediately resulted in a scrum as he crashed the net.
Although the Bruins outshot the Sharks 14-6 in the first period, the Sharks carried a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard into the first intermission.
Kiefer Sherwood was very noticeable early in the second period, both in the offensive zone and in the defensive zone. Notably, he prevented David Pastrnak from generating a chance in the opening minutes with an effective back check.
Just under a quarter of the way through the middle frame, Macklin Celebrini was denied on a breakaway chance by the Bruins’ netminder Swayman.
The Sharks got their first power play opportunity with just over six minutes remaining in the period, as Will Smith was hit by a high stick. Tyler Toffoli deflected the puck in, just seconds into the man advantage, giving the Sharks a 2-0 lead.
Moments later, Alex Nedeljkovic turned over the puck to Pastrnak, but somehow got back into position in time to make the save.
After 40 minutes, the Sharks maintained a 2-0 lead.
Smith had a scoring opportunity just over a minute into the period, but the play was broken up by Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy.
Barclay Goodrow was called for hooking on McAvoy three minutes into the period, giving the Bruins their second power play of the night. Almost immediately, Collin Graf created a breakaway and scored a shorthanded goal to make it 3-0 for San Jose.
Eklund made it 4-0 with a tremendous individual effort, shooting the puck past Swayman while falling to the ice. Moments later, Fraser Minten broke the Sharks’ shutout, making it 4-1.
The Bruins pulled their goaltender with just over three and a half minutes remaining in regulation.
Boston would score with 51 seconds remaining, as Pastrnak fired a one-timer from the point to make it 4-2.
A big scrum broke out after McAvoy took down Sherwood with a shoulder to the head with just 10 seconds remaining. Sherwood didn’t like the hit, and neither did Vincent Desharnais which resulted in chaos.
The Sharks held on to walk out victorious, in large part due to Nedeljkovic’s 37 save performance.