The Bruins got the road trip started with points in the bank, but Marco Sturm wasn’t about to pretend everything went smoothly.
Boston opened its four-game swing through California on Tuesday night by beating the San Jose Sharks 6-3, and the final margin made the win look cleaner than it really was. The Bruins scored two goals in each period, yet the game stayed tighter than the scoreboard suggested for much of the night.
That honesty carried over in Sturm’s postgame assessment early Wednesday morning back on the East Coast.
“We’ll definitely take the two points. It’s probably not our best game - there were a few too many turnovers and a little bit sloppy - but we found a way to win a hockey game,” Sturm said, per Belle Fraser of BostonBruins.com.
“That’s important, too. That’s what good teams do is find ways to close out, especially on the road.”
The result mattered for Boston, especially with San Jose having taken the last three meetings between the teams dating back to the 2024-25 season. The Sharks entered the night with three wins, but all of them had come in overtime or a shootout, and Boston made sure they didn’t collect their first regulation win of the season.
Still, this one came with plenty of warning signs.
The Bruins spent too much time in the penalty box, gave the Sharks power-play chances, and leaned heavily on Jeremy Swayman, who finished with 35 saves. Their own power play didn’t do anything to change the tone, and careless puck management in their own end kept handing San Jose extra looks.
Jacob Trouba’s first-period goal came seconds after a Nikita Zadorov penalty expired, another reminder that Boston was living a little too close to the edge. The Sharks have had trouble scoring early this season, and the Bruins gave them enough openings to make life uncomfortable anyway.
Boston found a way to survive that stretch, and Sturm framed that as the mark of a good team. But the rest of the trip figures to demand more. The Bruins still have the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and Dallas Stars ahead, and after what they showed against the Sharks, there’s plenty to clean up if they want to keep stacking wins.
There are two days before Friday night’s game in Anaheim, but the Bruins will need all of it - because Saturday night brings a back-to-back against the Kings, and a night like this one won’t cut it forever.
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