Bruins at Sharks
The Boston Bruins look to complete a season sweep of the San Jose Sharks and improve to 4-0-0 under the watch of interim coach Bruce Cassidy on Sunday as they return from their break to open a four-game road trip at SAP Center. While the modest winning streak has smoothed the coaching transition from Claude Julien to Cassidy, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara knows his team can't rest on its laurels if it wishes to stay in the hunt for the playoffs.
"Our thinking is to try to win every game," Chara told CSNNE.com of the third-place Bruins, who hold a one-point edge over Toronto in the Atlantic Division. "We know the standings. We know it's pretty tight. We put ourselves in some of the games in tough situations. Now, we've got to climb up and fight for every point." David Pastrnak (team-leading 25 goals) has been doing his part by scoring a pair of power-play goals in a 6-3 victory over San Jose on Feb. 9 before extending his point streak to five games (five goals, five assists) with an assist in a 4-0 triumph over Montreal last Sunday. The Pacific Division-leading Sharks have encountered rough waters of late with losses in five of their last seven (2-1-4), but defenseman Brent Burns tallied twice in Saturday's 4-1 victory over Arizona to give him five goals in his last three games and a team-best 27 on the season, matching his career-high total from 2015-16.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN
ABOUT THE BRUINS (29-23-6): All-Star Brad Marchand has fueled Boston's surge by scoring and setting up a goal the first encounter with the Sharks before recording his 13th point (seven goals, six assists) in eight games with his club-best 34th assist against the Canadiens. The 28-year-old native of Nova Scotia has recorded 33 of his team-leading 58 points on the road, with the latter number being just three shy of last season's career-best total. David Krejci, who has been kept off the scoresheet just twice in the last nine games, recorded an assist against San Jose and notched his second straight multi-point performance on Sunday by scoring and setting up a goal versus Montreal.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (35-18-6): Coach Peter DeBoer admitted he was looking forward to the team's bye week after Sunday's tilt, and offered that San Jose needed it after sloppy defense and poor execution have become evident in its recent play. "I can't wait for it, just based on our group," DeBoer told the San Jose Mercury News. "Not me personally. I think we need it." Workhorse goaltender Martin Jones, who yielded three goals on 12 shots before being relieved by Aaron Dell after one period in the first encounter with Boston, will get the nod on Sunday despite seeing his save percentage drop to .882 in the month of February.
OVERTIME
1. Boston has scored a power-play goal in a season-high eight straight games.
2. San Jose veteran C Joe Thornton scored in his last meeting with his former team to begin a five-game point streak (two goals, four assists).
3. Bruins G Tuukka Rask made 23 saves in the first encounter, improving to 4-3-0 lifetime versus the Sharks.