The Boston Bruins have won four consecutive games for the first time all season and remain undefeated with Bruce Cassidy behind the bench.
The B’s beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in overtime on Sunday night, sweeping the season series and starting their four-game road trip on the right foot. Brad Marchand scored the winning goal for the B’s, who are 4-0-0 since Cassidy replaced Claude Julien on Feb. 7 and became Boston’s interim head coach.
The Bruins improve to 30-23-6 with the win, while the Sharks fall to 35-18-7.
Here’s how it all went down.
QUICK STRIKE
Ryan Spooner continued the impressive play of Boston’s new-look third line when he opened the scoring with a goal at 11:05 of the first period.
It was Spooner’s ninth goal of the season, and he entered Sunday with eight points in his last eight games. Jimmy Hayes picked up an assist on Spooner’s goal for his 100th career NHL point.
SAN JOSE DRAWS EVEN
Patrick Marleau scored his 21st goal of the season in the second period, and it leveled the score 1-1.
Sharks defenseman Brent Burns picked up an assist on Marleau’s tally, giving him 64 points on the season, which ties him with Sidney Crosby for second place on the league’s scoring leaderboard.
CLEAN GAME
There wasn’t a whole lot of feistiness between these teams. Boston and San Jose took two minor penalties apiece, with both teams going 0-for-2 on the power play. The Bruins entered the game with the second-best penalty kill in the league.
There were no penalties in the third period or overtime.
TUUKKA REAL GOOD
Rask, after a week off, showed no rust in Boston’s net. The B’s goaltender stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced to earn his 28th win of the season. Rask has stopped 79 of 81 shots over his last three games.
MVP MARCHAND
Marchand ended the game with a breakaway goal in overtime that was set up by a nice pass from defenseman Torey Krug.
Marchand’s 25th goal of the season pulls him into a fifth-place tie with Evgeni Malkin and former teammate Tyler Seguin on the league’s scoring leaderboard. He’s also tied for the team lead in goals and leads all Bruins in assists and points.
UP NEXT
The Bruins resume their road trip Wednesday in Anaheim against the Ducks. Puck drop is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports Images
