Sharks at Bruins
Hours before the streets of Boston were filled with an estimated million fans to celebrate the New England Patriots' Super Bowl victory, the city's professional hockey team kicked its longtime coach to the curb. Two days after firing Claude Julien, the Boston Bruins will return to the ice to host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
Julien, in his 10th season in Boston, was the longest current tenured coach in the NHL and guided the Bruins to a Stanley Cup championship in 2011. General manager Don Sweeney apologized for the timing of Julien's dismissl and elevated assistant Bruce Cassidy to interim coach. "It's a results-oriented business," Cassidy said. "I'm aware of that. But we also want to remind the players that there's a process involved to get where you want to go every day. We have to be focused on that." The Sharks have won three in a row versus Boston, scoring 15 goals, but have dropped two in a row following an 8-1-0 stretch.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet360, Sportsnet West, TVAS, CSN California (San Jose), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (33-17-4): San Jose appeared well on its way to victory in the opener of its four-game road trip at Buffalo, only to allow three goals in under 3 1/2 minutes in the third period in a 5-4 overtime loss. "I felt like Dan Quinn," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said in reference to the Atlanta Falcons coach, whose team was victimized by the Patriots' stunning comeback. San Jose defenseman Brent Burns is third in the league in scoring behind Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (26-23-6): Boston fell under .500 at home (12-13-0) in its final game under Julien, falling to Toronto 6-5 after charging back from a three-goal deficit. "This is something that we brought on ourselves," Bruins leading scorer Brad Marchand said. "We didn't perform the way that we should and that we're capable of, and Claude is taking the fall for that." Cassidy said he doesn't plan to "reinvent the wheel" but will push the team to play at a faster pace.
OVERTIME
1. Bruins F David Pastrnak has consecutive three-point games .
2. Sharks captain Joe Pavelski has five goals and five assists in 12 games against Boston.
3. Bruins G Tuukka Rask is 3-3-0 with a 3.19 goals-against average versus San Jose.