BOSTON – Whatever desired wakeup call the Bruins were trying to get from their underperforming players by firing the coach, it appears to have worked.
The Bruins came out of the gate strong and struck five times in the first two periods to take home a convincing 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks at TD Garden. David Pastrnak had a pair of goals for the Black and Gold, and both David Backes (12 games) and Tim Schaller (12 games) snapped goal-scoring droughts in ushering in Bruce Cassidy’s stint as head coach with a victory.
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The Bruins got it going early with David Krejci and Torey Krug both attacking a puck in the corner, and Krug feeding Backes in the slot for his 12th goal of the season. It wasn’t common to see Krug that deep in the offensive zone supporting the forwards during Claude Julien’s time running the Boston bench, so it immediately set the tone that something different was afoot.
Joe Thornton scored seven minutes later to get the Sharks on the boards, but the Bruins rebounded strongly with two more goals in the first period. Patrice Bergeron slammed home a Backes tip that squeezed through the pads of Martin Jones, and Pastrnak smoked a one-timer after a sweet-looking pass from Bergeron.
Justin Braun got San Jose on the board to start the second period, but the Bruins once again responded resoundingly. Tim Schaller shoveled home a rebound of a Riley Nash shot from the slot to build it back to a two-goal lead, and then Pastrnak added to it with another PP goal finishing off a fancy no-look pass from Bergeron that left him wide open. Brad Marchand added the empty net goal late to cinch the victory for the Black and Gold.