Bruins rout Sharks in first game without Julien
The Bruins, playing their first game in almost 10 years without Claude Julien behind the bench, gave interim coach Bruce Cassidy a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on a snowy Thursday night in Boston.
Playing in front of a sparse crowd because of a blizzard, the Bruins got a goal from David Backes at 52 seconds and never trailed, two days after Julien was fired and replaced by assistant Cassidy.
Patrice Bergeron had a goal and three assists and David Pastrnak scored two goals, giving him eight points in the last three games as the Bruins ended a two-game losing streak and handed the Sharks a second straight loss on their four-game road trip.
San Jose (33-18-4), the first-place team in the Pacific Division, fell to 0-1-2 in its last three games.
Backes, elevated to the top line by Cassidy, snapped a 12-game goal-scoring drought and also had an assist for his second and third points in 13 games. He came in a minus-11 over the previous 12 games.
Tim Schaller and Brad Marchand (empty net goal to go with an assist) also scored for Boston (27-23-6) as the Bruins evened their home record at 13-13-0. The win came in the first of three home games in four days that could be important in their quest to end a two-year playoff absence.
Joe Thornton, Justin Braun and Timo Meier scored for the Sharks against Tuukka Rask, who made 23 saves and ended a personal three-game losing streak against San Jose (after three straight wins).
The Bruins chased Martin Jones in a three-goal first period and Aaron Dell relieved and allowed two goals in two periods.
It took less than a minute for the Bruins to score the first goal of the Cassidy era when Backes hammered home a pass from behind the net from defenseman Torey Krug.
San Jose quickly answered, with Thornton scoring from a sharp angle his first goal of the season not into an empty net.
But Bergeron, off a scramble, and Pastrnak, on the power play, scored 1:39 apart before the end of the period as the Bruins registered a power-play goal for the sixth straight game.
The Sharks reacted to the goaltending change with a quick goal 68 seconds into the second period. But Schaller scored his first goal in eight games just after the Bruins came up empty on a power play with 6:56 left in the second period -- and Pastrnak converted a Bergeron pass for another power play goal with 48.4 seconds left in the second.
Patrick Marleau, who got an assist on the second San Jose goal, has an eight-game points streak and Bergeron has a six-gamer. Braun's goal gave him 100 career points.
NOTES: Bruins D/captain Zdeno Chara missed the game and his third straight day because of illness and the hope is he can return for Saturday's home game against the Vancouver Canucks. ... Sharks RW Joonas Donskoi missed his 10th game in the last 13 with an upper-body injury and won't join the team for this weekend's road games at Philadelphia and New Jersey. .... Bruins president Cam Neely, appearing on the team's radio flagship, said, among other things, that David Backes and C David Krejci have not met his expectations. ... San Jose D Brent Burns came in with 22 goals, more than the totals of 13 other teams' defense corps. ... The Bruins hoped to postpone the game, but the NHL said no. A shift to Friday would have meant games on three straight days for both teams and there were no other feasible dates. Boston offered tickets to future regular-season games for fans who couldn't attend.