In Boston, the Bruins’ season kept on rolling Sunday night in a 4-0 whitewash of the San Jose sharks.
It was another methodical dismantling of an opponent by Boston.
“It’s a lot of fun to show up for work every night, and really feel like you can win every night,” Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “I think everybody just brings out the best in each other. It’s something you just want to savor, right? Because it’s really special what we got going here.”
The shutout was a shared effort between Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.
The two made 18-save in the shutout,
Ullmark got the start for Boston, but left the ice at 8:01 of the third period with a detached skate blade, he had 17 saves for the game.
“I have no clue [how the blade came out],” Ullmark said. “I had some skate issues before the game, but we took care of that. … I was just happy they didn’t shoot [before the change].”
Swayman made one save over a span of 2:28 before Ullmark returned.
Boston improved to 37-5-4.
“I thought our best defense was our [offensive] zone possession game,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “Our defensemen kept a lot of pucks alive being really aggressive, and all I know is it’s great to have an elite [defensive] core like we do led by Lindholm and McAvoy — who scored two unbelievable goals to get us going — and I thought they led us tonight with our intensity and puck possession game.”
Hampus Lindholm scored in the first period for all the offense the Bruins would need and a 1-0 advantage.
“If you could put it in the back of the net every game, you would,” Lindholm said. “It’s a league with good players and good goalies, so it’s not as easy as it looks, but it’s fun that we can create some offense and take some load off [David] Pastrnak and Marchand, so they can get a little night off.”
San Jose dropped to 14-25-9.
“No mystery why they have the record they have,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “Obviously, I didn’t think we were on our game in a lot of areas. [We] hung around a little bit, but you know, just two goals to get beat 1-on-1, and just didn’t get much going tonight.”
McAvoy and Nick Foligno scored in the middle frame for a 3-0 lead headed to the third period.
“I was laughing because there were four guys that were kind of angry that I scored; they all thought [Koppanen] tipped it,” Foligno said. “So I was kind of sad when I went in the huddle with everybody, but he got the assist, so everyone was happy after that.”
David Pastrnak added a power play goal in the third period for the 4-0 final.
“The calmness that we compete with on this team. There’s not really much that rattles this group,” Foligno said. “The way we handle ourselves every night, every day at practice, and there’s just such a hunger to get better in here. That’s maybe the biggest thing I see: Every guy wants to get better.”
James Reimer made 18 saves in the Sharks loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.