Entering Thursday night's game against the San Jose Sharks at the TD Garden, the Boston Bruins were looking for a huge two points before heading out on a three-game road trip. Winners of 13 straight at home going into the game, Boston was looking to take advantage of a wounded Sharks club that had lost three straight.
Instead of picking up two points, the Black and Gold were completely frustrated by the young stars San Jose has. On top of that, goalie Alex Nedeljkovic had one of those games where he was making save after save, or the Sharks did a good job of blocking shots and deflecting shots. Regardless, it led to a regulation loss that Boston can't afford right now.
Here are three takeaways after the Columbus Blue Jackets moved within a point of the Bruins in the standings with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers in South Florida.
Bruins failed to capitalize on Sharks allowing a lot of shots on the net
Early in the NESN broadcast, Judd Sirott mentioned, along with Andy Brickley, that the Bruins were going to get a lot of shots on the net against a Sharks team that allowed a lot. That was the case after the Black and Gold landed 40 on Alex Nedeljkovic, but couldn't get a puck past him.
So here's the thing: the Bruins are not blessed with a lot of true and natural goal scorers like other teams. In other teams, let's just throw the Buffalo Sabres (who scored six on San Jose on Tuesday night), Tampa Bay Lightning, or even Colorado Avalanche out there as teams that have better finishers. It's just how the roster is built. So when you get a game as you got on Thursday night, when you pepper the Sharks' net and come up empty, well, you're gonna get a result like this where you miss out on valuable points in the standings.
Jeremy Swayman kept it close with some big saves
While Nedeljkovic was frustrating the Bruins down one end, Jeremy Swayman made some big saves down the other to keep his team in the game, going into the third period only down two goals. The two goals he allowed in the opening 40 minutes, he had no chance on.
In the second period, Swayman stopped young star Macklin Celebrini on a breakaway before making a big post-to-post save on Kiefer Sherwood on a 2-on-1. He had no chance on the third-period shorthanded breakaway goal by Collin Graf. William Eklund's goal later in the period was a nice play, batting the puck into the net out of the air. He finished with 24 saves, and it could have been a lot worse.
Sharks young players put on an impressive performance
San Jose is certainly an up-and-coming team with all the young talent they have. Despite entering the game on a three-game losing streak, they. didn't play like a team on a losing streak. Sure, they gave up their fair share of chances against the Black and Gold, but when needed, their young players showed how much there is to like about the future for the Sharks.
Celebrini's play in the Olympics spoke for itself for Team Canada. Eklund had a goal and an assist, and Will Smith, who played at Boston College, was impressive as well. In their season sweep of Boston, the Sharks' young players certainly opened some eyes.