BOSTON BRUINS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME
– The Bruins visit the Sharks tonight in the frst of two games between these teams this season and Boston’s lone visit to San Jose this year … The Bruins are 2-0-0 overall this season and are playing their frst game on the road … They are 2-0-0 vs. Western Conference teams.
– The Bruins will open their current four-game road trip in San Jose tonight … They will continue their four-game road trip in Los Angeles on Oct. 21, in Anaheim on Oct. 22 and in Chicago on Oct. 24.
RECENT GAMES
- The Bruins opened their 2023-24 Centennial season with a 3-1 win vs. Chicago on 10/11 and vs. Nashville on 10/14.
- 10/11: Bos 3 vs Chi 1 … The Bruins opened their season with a 3-1 win with two goals from David Pastrnak (GW/EN) and the season’s frst score by Trent Frederic … Johnny Beecher and Matt Poitras played their frst NHL games each with Poitras gaining his frst assist and point as well … Linus Ullmark notched his frst win of the season … SOG: Bos 33, Chi 21 … PP: 0/3 … PK: 0/3 – 10/14: Bos 3 vs Nsh 2 … The Bruins continued their home stand with a 3-2 win and a two-goal night by a Bruin for the second straight game (two PPG from James van Rymsdyk) and a penalty shot goal by David Pastrnak … Charlie McAvoy had two assists … Jeremy Swayman earned his frst win of the season … SOG: Bos 30, Nsh 36 … PP: 2/5 … PK: 0/7
BOSTON vs SAN JOSE, LIFETIME SERIES
- The Bruins and Shark are meeting for the 46th time in their histories with Boston holding a 28-12-5-0 record and 149-115 scoring advantage in those games.
- The Bruins are 13-7-2-0 vs. the Sharks in 22 road games with a 68-54 scoring edge in those contests.
- The Bruins have won their last 11 straight games vs. San Jose with their last loss vs. the Sharks a 3-2 setback on Mar. 15, 2016.
FUN FACTS
- The Bruins currently have 22 players on their roster … 11 were drafted by the team, four were acquired in trade and seven were signed as free agents.
- The Bruins play 11 matinees this season (local time 4:00 pm or earlier) … They have an 0-0-0 record in afternoon games so far.
- The Bruins play 12 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 0-0-0 in the frst game of those sets and 0-0-0 in the second games so far.
- The Bruins are playing game three of a nine-game October schedule tonight (fve home/four road, 2-0-0) … They will play 13 games in November (fve home/eight road) … They will play 13 games in December (six home/seven road) … They will play 14 games in January (seven home/seven road) …They will play 12 games in February (eight home/four road) … They will play 14 games in March (seven home/seven road) … They will play seven games in April (three home/four road).
SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
LAST TIME OUT
Game 3 – 10/17 SJS 3 vs CAR 6…Fabian Zetterlund (1g, 1a) notched his first goal and first multi-point game with the Sharks and Filip Zadina (1g, 0a) netted his second goal of the campaign, but San Jose was unable to hold on to a third-period lead against Carolina in a 6-3 decision. William Eklund (1g, 0a) scored his first goal of the season, his first career power play marker, and Tomáš Hertl (0g, 2a) moved up the Sharks’ all-time ranks in both points (now sixth) and multi-assist games (now seventh). With 36 saves, Mackenzie Blackwood now claims the most-ever stops by a Sharks netminder in his first two appearances (87), surpassing Kaapo Kähkönen’s 78 set in 2022.
SJS Goals: Zetterlund (1), Zadina (2pp), Eklund (1pp)
SF: 16
SA: 42
SJS PP: 2-6
SJS PK: 4-7
W: Raanta
L: Blackwood
BLACKWOOD MAC
Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood has turned in a remarkable first two games in teal, stopping 51 shots while helping the Sharks earn a point against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and following up with a 36-save effort Tuesday against Carolina. His save total in his first game, which included stops on his first 48 shots faced in the game and is the most by a NHL netminder in any game this season, represents the most by any NHL goalie in a debut with a new team since at least 1955-56, per NHL PR, and was the most by a Sharks netminder in this milennium (Steve Shields, Oct. 14, 1999, 5-1 W at NSH). Blackwood finished the contest one save shy of his career best of 52, set against Columbus on Feb. 16, 2020, a 4-3 shootout win. His 87 saves are the most ever by a Sharks netminder through two his first two games with the club in team history.
HERT SO GOOD
Forward Tomáš Hertl registered his first point of the season, an assist on fellow Czech forward Filip Zadina’s marker in the season-opener against Vegas on Thursday, and followed two games later with a multi-assist effort on 10/17 against Carolina. With his pair of helpers, Hertl (453 points) surpassed Owen Nolan (451) for sixth on San Jose’s all-time points list and moved beyond Jeff Friesen for eighth on the team’s all-time multi-assist games list (38), now one multi-helper game behind former teammate Erik Karlsson for a seventh-place tie. Hertl entered 2023-24 after posting a career-best 41 assists in 2022-23, a season in which he tallied 63 points (22g, 41 a) in 72 games. It was the second time in his career that he hit the 20-goal plateau in consecutive seasons and the first since 2017-18 (22) and 2018-19 (35).
DOCTOR FIL
Forward Filip Zadina didn’t take long to make an impression in San Jose, finding the back of the net in two of the first three games, in the Sharks’ opening night against Vegas (Oct. 12) and again Tuesday (Oct. 17) vs. Carolina. Dating back to last season, Zadina has points in four of his last five games, with three goals and one assist. The Czech forward leads the Sharks in goals and shots (8) through three games.
