The San Jose Sharks got a jolt from a milestone moment Tuesday night, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Boston Bruins from skating away with a 6-3 win in the NHL’s annual Frozen Frenzy showcase.
Ivar Stenberg scored his first career goal, Macklin Celebrini added another, and the Sharks briefly pulled within one in the third period. Still, Boston kept finding answers at key moments, including a pair of late goals that put the game out of reach.
Yaroslav Askarov returned in net for San Jose, while Jeremy Swayman started for Boston. The Bruins struck first at 12:55 of the opening period when Fraser Minten fired a shot from distance that beat Askarov. Before that, Boston captain David Pastrnak had already been sent off at 4:44 for high-sticking Celebrini, but the Sharks couldn’t cash in on the power play.
San Jose had some early looks of its own. Igor Chernyshov forced a turnover at the blue line, spun a pass over to Will Smith and nearly set up a goal, but Chernyshov missed on the finish. The Bruins briefly thought they had scored through Mason Lohrei, only for the referee to wave it off immediately.
Boston stretched the lead after a broken play turned messy in front of the Sharks’ net, with Charlie McAvoy finishing the scramble to make it 2-0. San Jose answered in the second period, and the play started with a Bruins penalty when Nikita Zadorov tripped Celebrini. On the power play, Stenberg redirected a chance home for his first NHL goal and tied the game at 2-2.
That tie didn’t last long. Matthew Poitras put Boston back in front before the halfway point, and the Bruins grabbed more control late in the period. Stenberg later went to the box for hooking at 12:01, and during that sequence Jacob Trouba and Fraser Minton drew offsetting penalties after a scrum.
Then came another costly stretch for the Sharks. After their penalty expired, Mark Kastelic delivered a heavy hit on Celebrini at the blue line, and Will Smith responded with a cross-check from behind that sent San Jose right back to the penalty kill.
The Bruins didn’t score there, but the Sharks never quite settled in. With three seconds left in the second, Pavel Zacha buried his second goal of the season to make it 4-2.
Boston handed San Jose a chance to swing the game back when it took a bench minor for too many men, and the Sharks took advantage. Just 11 seconds into the power play at 5:04 of the third period, Celebrini scored his second of the season to pull San Jose within 4-3.
The momentum push didn’t last. Darnell Nurse dropped the gloves with Nikita Zadorov in an effort to spark the Sharks, but Nurse appeared to hit his head on Zadorov’s takedown and went down the tunnel after briefly stopping at the penalty box during a TV timeout.
Will Borgen finished it off with an empty-net goal to seal Boston’s 6-3 victory and shut down any last hope of a San Jose comeback.
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For San Jose, the timing matters as much as the injury concern itself. A blue line already facing a demanding trip could look even thinner if Nurse ends up on injured reserve, which would sideline him for at least seven days and force the Sharks to sort out their defensive rotation without one of its more important pieces. [Read more 🡒]