bruins 2 - sharks 5

The much ballyhooed First-in-East-versus-First-in-West, or if you prefer, Joe-Thornton's-Return-to-Boston game happened last night, and the Sharks came out on top.

The Bruins led the game 2-1 entering the third period, but two lucky bounces gave the Sharks the tie and the lead, and they eventually iced the game with an empty net goal.

Which is not to say the Sharks did not deserve the win - they absolutely did. The Bruins were hitting and getting tons of shots in the first period, which diminished in the second, and diminished further in the third. The Sharks, for their part, seemed surprised to find their effort matched in the first period, and by sustaining their offense as the Bruins dipped, they were able to mount the comeback.

This was only the second Sharks game I had seen this year, and they are an impressive bunch. Goalie Evgeni Nabokov was equal parts blase and amazing, and Dan Boyle is worth all the hype he's received this year.

As for the battle between Chara and Thornton, it's hard to say who won. Chara had an alright night, but became more scrambly as the game went by (primarily due to an increased level of forecheck pressure), while Thornton got a goal, but one that merely deflected off his foot.

Making matters worse, the Bruins lost Chuck Kobasew for a good portion of the game, and lost Pettri Nokelainen with a serious eye-injury (he was high-sticked by Dan Boyle, and the play was not called).

The Bruins players see the game as a lesson learned, according to Coach Julien:

"That’s the way our players react. They look at it as lesson learned, I think they were disappointed because when we went into the third period with a lead and thought we could continue to compete. But it took a few mistakes and again just not having enough, I guess enough energy to push back, having to play with a short bench and they just didn’t have it tonight. And unfortunately against a team like that it’s already pretty hard to play against them with a full lineup and when you have to shorten your bench because of injuries, [that] certainly doesn’t help matters. Give them credit, guys, they played a real good game, they played a patient game. We had a good first period, but as the game went on they started picking up their game and we had our hands full."

This was the Bruins second straight loss. I realize I didn't post anything about Saturday night's loss to Philly, but I was away for the weekend. It felt like old news by the time I had returned.