The Boston Bruins kicked off a four-game road trip on Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks, a team that has owned the Black and Gold in the last three meetings between the two teams. San Jose entered the game as winners of three straight against the Black and Gold, dating back to the 2024-25 season.
This season, the Sharks are not the same team that has struggled in recent seasons. Their addition of high draft picks and developing young players has them thinking big: a trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, as every young team struggles to learn how to win, the early portion of finishing games in regulation has been a struggle. All three wins entering the game for San Jose were in overtime or a shootout.
Boston didn't want to be the Sharks' first regulation win of the season, and thanks to two goals in each period, the Bruins opened their annual California trip with a 6-3 victory. However, it wasn't as easy as the score might say.
If you didn't stay up late, nobody would blame you; the game was a lot closer than the final score indicates. It wasn't a performance that second-year head coach Marco Sturm was going to be thrilled with, and that was the case after the win early Wednesday morning back on the East Coast.
“We’ll definitely take the two points. It’s probably not our best game – there were a few too many turnovers and a little bit sloppy – but we found a way to win a hockey game,” Sturm said, per Belle Fraser of BostonBruins.com. “That’s important, too. That’s what good teams do is find ways to close out, especially on the road.”
Bruins need to play a more complete game for the rest of the trip
This was a typical Boston Bruins game early in the 2026-27 season. They spent a good chunk of the game in the penalty box, allowed two power plays, and could have had a third, but Jacob Trouba's first-period goal came seconds after a Nikita Zadorov penalty expired.
Their power play was powerless, while turning the puck over in the defensive end was a recipe for disaster if it weren't for goalie Jeremy Swayman and his 35 saves. If they play like that against the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and Dallas Stars to close out the trip, there won't be many wins before returning home.
Sure, they found a way to win a game like that on the road as good teams do, but man, there are a lot of things that need to be cleaned up. Putting that much pressure on Swayman and Michael DiPietro is not going to be a sustainable recipe for success. The Sharks have had trouble scoring early in the season, and the Bruins did everything possible to give them every opportunity to fix that. Thanks to Swayman, they didn't.
There are two days before the next game on Friday night in Anaheim, but there is a lot to work on before the front end of a back-to-back with the Kings waiting on Saturday night.
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