BOSTON — There certainly was no shortage of entertainment at TD Garden on Tuesday when the Boston Bruins welcomed the San Jose Sharks to town.
San Jose jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but the B’s tied it before the first period ended and proceeded to score three unanswered goals in the second period to secure a 4-1 win. But the game itself was scrappy, with both teams playing like they were longtime rivals.
Tempers flared in the third when Evander Kane took a hit from Zdeno Chara that he didn’t seem too fond of. The Sharks winger then jumped the 6-foot-9 defenseman before the two dropped the gloves in a match that didn’t end well for Kane, who received a game misconduct, fighting major and an instigating penalty that prematurely ended his night.
After the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy addressed the fight, noting his captain typically isn’t one to be challenged on the ice.
“Zee finished a check behind the net and obviously Kane didn’t like it and went after him,” Cassidy said. “Zee obliged him and they went to the box and moved on. They’re a veteran team, a physical team, and things weren’t going their way so you usually have to accept that a guy’s gonna give a challenge. Not usually Zee the one who gets challenged. … Zee came out of it fine, the other guy didn’t as much.”
Kane stands at 6-foot-2, so he’s not small by any means. But when your opponent is seven inches taller, it makes things a little more difficult.
“Tough when you go up against Thanos like that,” Jake DeBrusk said of the fight.
Brad Marchand noted the defenseman’s toughness after the game.
“If you’re going to fight him, that’s the way the to do it,” Marchand said. “Not a guy you want to square off with, but obviously a very tough man and a very scary man.”
Here are some other notes from Tuesday’s Bruins-Sharks game:
— The Bruins honored fallen Weymouth, Mass. officer Michael Chesna before puck drop.
— DeBrusk’s first-period goal marked his 20th of the season.
He caused some panic in the first period, however, when he took a high stick to the face and went down the tunnel. Fortunately, he returned (with one less tooth) rather quickly and continued his hot streak with six points over his last 11 games.
— Noel Acciari also was banged up in the game, taking a puck to face. But Cassidy didn’t seem too worried about his player.
“Our team is getting uglier every game,” he joked.
— Marcus Johansson logged a point in his first game as a Bruin after being traded by the New Jersey Devils on Monday. He accounted for an assist on DeBrusk’s tally.
“It looked like those guys were reading off each other well,” Cassidy said of Johansson playing with DeBrusk and David Krejci. “It’s only game one, so hopefully it grows from there.”
— Boston now has a 14-game point streak and has won eight of its last nine games.
