The Bruins have turned their two meetings with the Sharks into a full-blown scoring spree.
Boston beat San Jose 6-3 on October 13, then followed that up with a 6-4 win Saturday night at TD Garden. Put the two games together and the Bruins hung 12 goals on the same opponent in 11 days.
What makes it stand out is how different the two wins looked. The first one was more straightforward. The second turned into a test of survival before Boston stormed back late.
In the initial matchup, the Bruins were in control for much of the night and finished with a 6-3 victory behind Fraser Minten, who scored twice. Charlie McAvoy, Matthew Poitras, Pavel Zacha and Will Borgen also scored, while Jeremy Swayman stopped 35 shots to help Boston work through a San Jose team that created plenty of chances.
Saturday’s rematch took a far more hectic route. The Sharks grabbed a 3-2 lead early in the third period and put Boston’s point streak in danger. That’s when David Pastrnak stepped in and flipped the game.
Pastrnak’s goal was his 427th career goal, moving him into a tie with Patrice Bergeron for third place on the franchise’s all-time list. Forty seconds later, James Hagens scored to give the Bruins the lead. Minten added a power-play goal, and Borgen sealed it with an empty-netter as Boston poured in four goals in the final period to pull out the 6-4 win and move to 9-2-1.
The Bruins also showed they can beat a team in more than one way. Six different players scored Saturday: Casey Mittelstadt got things started with the 100th goal of his NHL career, Marat Khusnutdinov added another, and Pastrnak, Hagens, Minten and Borgen rounded out the scoring. Pastrnak is still the centerpiece, but Boston keeps finding production beyond its biggest name.
That depth matters. Hagens has kept finding room around the net.
Minten has already delivered in key moments. Mittelstadt gives the lineup another seasoned option.
The message from these two games is pretty clear: Boston doesn’t have to lean on one scorer to put up a crooked number.
Still, Saturday wasn’t clean. San Jose scored twice on the power play, added a shorthanded goal and also scored during four-on-four play, which kept the Bruins under pressure longer than they wanted. Boston got the win, but the defensive side of the ledger was messy enough to notice.
Even with that, the Bruins have earned points in eight straight games, going 7-0-1 during that run. The ability to dig out of trouble has been a good sign. Relying on late rallies every night would be a different story.
Next up is Carolina on Tuesday. Boston may not be able to count on six goals every time the mistakes start piling up, but for now the offense has been strong enough to overpower opponents in different styles.
San Jose found that out twice.
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Marat Khusnutdinov is now locked in for the long haul after signing a three-year contract extension, giving the Bruins one less item to worry about as they move deeper into the season. The last game also offered a boost in net, where Michael DiPietro picked up his first NHL shutout, the kind of performance that can quiet a few questions and give a club some extra confidence before heading on the road. [Read more 🡒]