BOSTON — Old friends are making a habit of putting up big numbers at TD Garden.
Two weeks after former Bruins forward Tyler Seguin recorded a hat trick in his latest return to Boston, another ex-B’s phenom put on a show of his own.
Joe Thornton didn’t quite match the three-goal showing Seguin had against his former team, but the veteran center’s line was a dominant force as the San Jose Sharks overpowered Boston in a 5-4 win Tuesday night.
San Jose’s top trio of left wing Joe Pavelski, Thornton and right wing Melker Karlsson each scored a goal in the game, and Pavelski and Thornton were on the ice for four of their team’s five, including the two power-play tallies in the third period that put the Sharks ahead for good.
It was a case of best beating best, too: The Bruins had their top two-way forward (Patrice Bergeron) and No. 1 defenseman (Zdeno Chara) on the ice for all four goals Thornton and Pavelski were involved in.
“We weren’t able to handle that line (Tuesday night),” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “Again, we tried to put some of our better players that are good at it, but somehow, it takes more than just them. We didn’t do a good enough job against that line, and they ate us up.”
Thornton and Pavelski each finished with a goal and two assists in the win, and Karlsson chipped in with one goal and one helper.
Some additional notes from Tuesday’s game, the result of which dropped Boston to 8-8-1 on the season:
— Tyler Randell scored the Bruins’ first goal of the night. The rookie forward hadn’t scored in seven games, but he now has three goals on seven career shots.
— Some milestones: Tuesday marked the 700th game of Dennis Seidenberg’s NHL career and the 300th for fellow defenseman Adam McQuaid.
— The Bruins held an optional morning skate before the game, as opposed to their usual mandatory ones. Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Matt Beleskey, David Krejci and Torey Krug chose not to participate.
Marchand did speak with the media, however, and he said he’d like to see optional skates become a more common practice.
“I really like that idea of it being optional,” the winger said. “I’ve always enjoyed staying off in the morning and just saving your energy for the night, for the game. Whatever the team does, we’re obviously going to go along with it, but I like that idea of having an optional skate.”
— Marchand was fined $5,000 late last week for his retaliatory punch to the face of Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog. The punch was a response to a high hit by Landeskog that earned the Avs captain a two-game suspension.
“I wouldn’t say it was really defending myself,” Marchand said Tuesday morning. “It was more like revenge, I guess you could say. But it is what it is. At the end of the day, it’s probably not a hit that I should have made. But I did, and you live with the consequences.”
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
