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Bruins drop West Coast trip opener
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(Getty Images) Zdeno Chara's 11th goal of the season wasn't enough as the Bruins dropped the opener of a three game West Coast swing to the Sharks 2-1
The Boston Bruins started a mini three game west coast road trip Thursday night in San Jose and Tim Thomas found himself between the pipes for a 14th straight game. The Bruins dropped their opening contest to the Sharks 2-1.
A late third period goal by Zdeno Chara (his 11th) was not enough as goals by Joe Pavelski (his 27th) and Daniel Winnik (his 6th) were enough for the Sharks. The Sharks dominated this game from start to finish outshooting the Bruins 20-9 at one point through two periods.
Tim Thomas played well enough to get the win, but Antti Niemi was more impressive stopping 16 of the Bruins 17 shots. Thomas turned away 25 of 27 in the loss.
The offense for the Bruins never clicked tonight. There were zero shots for Tyler Seguin, Patrice Bergeron, Jordon Caron, David Krejci or Benoit Pouliot through the first two periods which is a story of its own. The offense for the Bruins was held in check all night resulting in a tough 2-1 loss to the Sharks. The black and gold could only manage 17 shots through 60 minutes of play which is very uncharacteristic for Claude Julien’s crew.
The Bruins have dropped their fourth straight road game which is their longest streak since December of 2009, but still are leading the Northeast Division by three points over the Ottawa Senators with one game in hand.
The San Jose Sharks are looking to gain momentum as they are very much in the mix for a spot in the playoffs in the Western Conference. Former Bruin Joe Thornton had one assist on the night while getting 17:55 of ice time.
The Bruins will look to get back on track Saturday versus the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are currently occupying the nine seed in the Western Conference and they are one point between the seven and eight seeds, the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche respectively.
