With four goals on 14 shots in just under 26 minutes of action, the Bruins delivered some Sunday Scaries to the Sharks and chased goalie Adin Hill from the game in the process on the way to a 4-3 win at TD Garden.
And it didn’t take long for the Bruins to beat Hill in this contest.
The Bruins first found the back of the net just 28 seconds into puck drop behind some surgical puck movement from David Pastrnak to Patrice Bergeron and then Brad Marchand for a strike (his fourth of the season). It was just laughably easy for the Boston top line, really, as Marchand fired home the puck with four Sharks surrounding him between the circles.
Boston needed just 1:50 to double their lead out to two, this time behind Derek Forbort’s first as a Bruin, and on a drive that seemed to just plain beat Hill through traffic for a 2-0 edge on Boston ice.
Up comfortably, the Bruins pushed their lead out to three just 12 seconds into their first power-play opportunity of the afternoon, and off a one-time bomb from Pastrnak and with some help from a slick dish from Bergeron.
Some Sunday dinner. 🍝 #NHLBruins | @pastrnak96 pic.twitter.com/9Bj9PH84XI
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 24, 2021
“I thought our start was excellent,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of his team’s opening frame.
Up by two through 20 minutes of play, the Boston offense built off that strong start and put a merciful end to Hill’s day early in the second period, too, and off a shot from Jake DeBrusk.
Jake DeBrusk beats Hill for his second goal of the season.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) October 24, 2021
4-1 Bruins.
pic.twitter.com/5RLs0mgxRi
The goal was DeBrusk’s second through four games this season, and first since the Opening Night game-winning goal. It would appear that the bounce-back approach is working for DeBrusk, too, considering that he did not score his second goal of the season last year until his 18th appearance of the season.
But with the help of some high-shot and high-skill deflections, the Sharks made things interesting with two goals in 1:49 late in the third period. The first of which came on an absolute no-chance deflection off the stick of future Bruin trade deadline target Tomas Hertl, while the the second was off the stick of Timo Meier and held up following a video review.
Linus Ullmark and the Boston defense finished strong, however, with the 6-foot-4 netminder finishing with 23 saves.
“I think we gave up nothing [in the third],” said Cassidy. “They had two deflections that happened to find their way in.”
Looking beyond the deflections, Ullmark’s first goal against in this effort was a leaky one — the Sharks’ Jasper Weatherby caught Ullmark not hugging his post short side just 32 seconds after Pastrnak’s first-period goal — but he certainly made up for it with a big save on Rudolfs Balcers on a shorthanded two-on-one in the second period and the final-five effort.
The Bruins played this game without both Anton Blidh and Craig Smith, along with Nick Foligno, which paved the way for the regular-season debuts of both Jack Studnicka and Oskar Steen.
Studnicka centered Boston’s fourth line with Trent Frederic and Karson Kuhlman on the wings, while Steen got his chance with Jake DeBrusk and Erik Haula on the Black and Gold’s third line.
Following the one-game return to Boston, the Bruins will head back on the road for a back-to-back in Carolina and Florida.
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Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.
