Brad Marchand Scores Twice as Bruins Defeat Sharks 3-1

Brad Marchand had two goals and an assist as the Boston Bruins beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 on Saturday. It’s the Bruins’ fourth consecutive win in the season and the ninth consecutive win against the Sharks since March 15, 2016.

THE BREAKDOWN

Marchand opened the scoring in the first on a 2-1 breakout with Jake DeBrusk. The pair broke out 2-1 and Marchand one timed a pass from DeBruks past Sharks goalie James Reimer to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. It’s the second straight game DeBrusk has slotted in with the top line since Marchand returned from his six-game suspension.

The Sharks knotted in the second when Timo Meier beat Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman on the power play for his team leading 24th goal of the season. The game remained tied at 1 through two periods.

Marchand responded early in the third with his second goal and 23rd of the season. Patrice Bergeron iced the game firing home his 14th goal of the season with 40 seconds left on a nice feed out front from David Pastrnak.

3 STARS

Brad Marchand: Marchand was all over the ice on his second game back from suspension. He factored in on all 3 Bruins goals. He scored two and an assisted on a third while leading all players with 8 shots on goal.

Charlie McAvoy: McAvoy brought a physical presence all game. He registered 4 hits and landed 4 shots on goal. McAvoy’s most notable hit was against Jonathan Dahlen in the Boston Zone which allowed Haula to move the puck to DeBrusk and pass it to Marchand for his first goal.

Jeremy Swayman: Swayman recorded 15 saves with many of the key stops coming in the 3rd period as the Sharks mounted a quick offensive push to draw overtime. In his last 5 games Swayman has a 4-0-1 record with a .964 save percentage.

TURNING POINT

Has to be Swayman’s play late in the 3rd.  Swayman came up huge with a breakaway save on Tomas Hertl with just over six minutes remaining in the third. Moments later he made an equally if not more impressive glove save. Then with over 3 minutes remaining another save on a point blank attempt.

SO THAT HAPPENED…

The Boston Bruins, now 31-17-4, have passed the Washington Capitals for the top spot in the wild card standings. The Bruins stand at 66 points with the Capitals trailing close behind at 65.

THAT’S WHAT HE SAID

Swayman hasn’t been declared the Bruins’ No. 1 goalie, but after his performance of late it’s really starting to look that way. Head coach Bruce Cassidy won’t officially commit to Swayman as the number 1 but prior to the game hinted that things appear to be trending in that direction.

“He’s in a competition for the true No. 1 here right now with [Linus] Ullmark,” Cassidy said prior to the game. “He’s probably a little ahead right now. We don’t want to declare anything, but that’s the next phase for him, can he handle the majority of the starts as a young guy? It might play out that way for him if he continues to handle it the way he has.”

LOOSE PUCKS

• This was Jake DeBrusk’s 2nd game playing on the ‘top line’ with Marchand and Bergeron and so far so good. Per Conor Ryan of the Boston Sports Journal in the 7:18 of 5v5 ice time the 3 played together the Bruins held a 10-0 edge in shots on goal.
• Patrice Bergeron played 10:16 at even strength tonight and the shot attempts were 19-1 in favor of the Bruins during that time.
• Curtis Lazar missed the game with an upper-body injury. Jesper Froden’s slotted in for his second career NHL appearance. Froden skated on a line with Nick Foligno and Tomas Nosek,
• The Bruins are off to Southern California for back to back games against the LA Kings (Monday) and Anaheim Ducks (Tuesday).