Lucas Carlsson scored the game-winning goal with 3:23 left in regulation and added an assist as the San Jose Sharks topped the visiting Boston Bruins 3-1 on Saturday night.
In his San Jose debut, Carlsson broke a late 1-1 tie when he slotted a backhander past Boston goaltender Joonas Korpisalo off Will Smith’s shot. Boston elected not to challenge the eventual game-winner for a potential offsides call.
The Sharks (19-42-9, 47 points) had lost 14 consecutive games in the head-to-head series. Of late, the win broke a two-game skid.
William Eklund matched Carlsson with a goal and an assist, Barclay Goodrow also scored and Macklin Celebrini assisted on each of San Jose’s first two goals.
Celebrini, the 18-year-old reigning Hobey Baker Award winner from Boston University and No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft, became the fastest player in Sharks history to reach 30 career assists.
San Jose’s Alexander Georgiev made 22 saves, including eight in the third period.
Casey Mittlestadt scored the lone goal for Boston (30-32-9, 69 points), which is 0-4-1 in its last five games.
Korpisalo made 18 stops.
A scoreless first period included empty power plays for both sides. Korpisalo made a key save just after Boston’s second penalty expired in the opening minute of the second, stretching out to save a try from Alexander Wennberg as he drove down the right wing and cut toward the net.
Shortly thereafter, at 2:13, Eklund scored first when he took a crisp cross-ice pass from Celebrini in transition and beat Korpisalo five-hole from the bottom of the left circle.
Defenseman Luca Cagnoni, who made his NHL debut earlier this week, had the secondary assist for his first career point in his second game.
Boston’s push finally resulted in a game-tying goal with 3:10 left in the middle period, as Cole Koepke’s forecheck forced an offensive-zone turnover after Georgiev tried to start a puck clearance. Mittlestadt jumped on a loose puck just outside the crease and slammed it home.
Shortly before Boston’s tying goal, Georgiev saved David Pastrnak’s turnaround shot with less than six minutes to go in the second.
Georgiev‘s post-to-post save on the star Bruins winger’s one-timer also helped keep the game tied early in the third. The hosts, meanwhile, recorded just one shot on net entering the final five minutes.
–Field Level Media
