Sharks Defeat Eastern Conference Leading Bruins 5-2

All season long, San Jose Sharks's coach Todd McLellon and his staff have talked about winning games in the last 20 minutes.  They dominated the 3rd period in Boston, scoring 4 unanswered goals, as the leaders of the Western Conference San Jose faced off with the leaders of the East, the Boston Bruins, and defeated the host Bruins 5-2 to snap their season-long three game losing streak.

The highlights of the first period were all about the Boston Bruins, specifically Milan Lucic.  4 minutes into the game, Lucic scored his 12th goal of the season from a nice pass from Marc Savard pulled Evgeni Nabokov out of position, leading Lucic to a wide open score.  San Jose soon answered on the power play, which had been unsuccessful of late.  But Rob Blake changed that with a shot from the point that trickled past Tim Thomas's pads as he was screened, and the game was tied 1-1.  But Lucic quickly gave the Bruins another lead, getting the puck behind the defenseman and in front of Nabokov for a shot that squeezed past the legs of the San Jose goaltender, and Boston entered the second with a 2-1 lead.
San Jose then responded in the second period, not scoring, but with the physical play.  The Sharks began checking the Bruins hard all over the ice, creating turnovers and offensive chances.  Nabokov also made a couple of spectacular saves, including lifting his legs into the air to deny Savard a wide open shot that would have tied the game 2-2.  The second period ended quickly, with barely any stoppage in play and no scoring, but the change of pace carried over to the third for the Sharks, who simply took over the last 20 minutes.
Ryane Clowe, who ended the game with 3 assists, forechecked hard in the third, creating an open shot for Christian Ehrhoff.  The shot rebounded off Thomas, and the San Jose captain Patrick Marleau, who also led the team with 8 hits, lifted the goal top shelf to tie the game 2-2.  Another forecheck by Clowe caused a 4 on 2 rush for the Sharks, and Dan Boyle left the puck behind him for Milan Michalek, who froze Thomas with a subtle shoulder movement then roofed the puck to extend give the Sharks their first lead of the game 3-2.  The Sharks were not done, as Marleau kept the puck in deep, passed it to Devin Setoguchi, who shot the puck off Joe Thorton's skate and past Tim Thomas, and Thorton's 13th goal of the game against his former team extended San Jose's lead 4-2.  The play was put under video review, but there was no distinct kicking motion, and the score was upheld.  With a minute and a half left, Boston pulled their goaltender but only had one quality scoring chance, which was denied again by a sprawling Nabokov against Savard.  The Sharks then caught Boston out of position after they tried to keep the puck in San Jose's end, and Mike Grier put the puck in the empty net to seal the victory for San Jose 5-2.

The loss was the first time all season the Bruins suffered by a differential of more than 2 goals.  It was also the first time Boston had lost in regulation when leading going into the third period.  Previously, they were a remarkable 26-0-2.  The story of the night, however, was the physical play and penalty kill of the San Jose Sharks.  The Sharks outhit Boston 40-25, with most of their hits coming after the second period.  Their penalty kill was also solid in front of Nabokov, who stopped 28 shots.  Both Boston and San Jose came into the game with cold power plays, but the Sharks capitalized on their lone chance while Boston went 0 for 5.  San Jose's first line of Marleau, Thorton, and Setoguchi also came back to life after going cold in San Jose's three game losing streak.  During those three games, they combined for only 2 points.  In the win over Boston, they had 5. The Bruins were outshooting San Jose for most of the game however, although in the end the Sharks had a 31 to 30 shot advantage over the host team.  It was Thorton's second trip to Boston as the opposing player since he was traded to San Jose from the Bruins on November 30th, 2005.  Both times the Sharks defeated Boston, with the first being a 6-2 beating, mostly without the help of Thorton who was ejected early in that game.  With the loss, Boston still has a comfortable lead in the Eastern Conference and still leads the NHL with 85 points, although they have played 3 more games than San Jose, who is second in the league with 81.