Bruins Outlast Sharks 6-4 Despite a Leaky Night for Swayman
Boston's attack spread the goals around while San Jose's Will Smith rang the post twice and the Sharks kept pushing back at TD Garden.
Boston had the better of this one almost from start to finish, and still needed six goals to put San Jose away. The Bruins outshot the Sharks 35-25 and piled up far more shot attempts, 65 to 42, yet the game stayed close enough that the Sharks scored 4 times.
The gap in chances was wide. Boston's looks were worth 4.96 expected goals (how many goals its chances would normally produce), against 2.08 for San Jose. In other words, the Sharks scored about twice what their chances deserved.
That lands on Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 21 of 25 shots and finished minus 1.92 goals saved above expected, meaning he let in nearly two more goals than an average night would allow. He was also a bit fortunate it wasn't worse: the Sharks hit the post four times, twice by Will Smith.
The attack bailed him out. Casey Mittelstadt, Fraser Minten and James Hagens each had a goal and an assist, with Mittelstadt and Hagens on a line with Elias Lindholm, who set up two. JJ Peterka added two assists alongside David Pastrnak, who scored on five shots. Boston moves to 9-2-1, first in the Atlantic.
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- Game PreviewSharks Carry a Leaky Blue Line Into TD Garden
- Player Game InsightCelebrini Logs Big Minutes, Sharks Fall Short in Boston
- Player Game InsightPastrnak Finds the Twine Late in Boston's 6-4 Win Over San Jose
- Strong Player PerformanceMittelstadt Opens the Scoring and Keeps Getting Prime Looks in Boston