The Boston Bruins go for their 14th straight home win when they host the San Jose Sharks — led by sophomore sensation and former Boston University star Macklin Celebrini — for a crucial Thursday night game amidst a playoff race for both teams.
Boston earned a 2-1 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday to maintain a two-point lead for the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card spot, while San Jose has used a recent 3-1-2 stretch to move within a point of the West’s playoff cutoff line.
With just over a month remaining in the regular season, the games are heating up and the points are at a premium.
“That was pretty close to a playoff-style game. Not much out there,” Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei said of Tuesday’s battle with the Kings. “At the end of the day, it’s tight and it’s nice to come out on top.”
Bruins coach Marco Sturm has expressed the same point.
“For us, the playoffs already started a long time ago,” he said. “It’s helping us move forward in playing those types of games. It’s not just us. It’s a one-goal game most of the time.”
On Tuesday, the Bruins emerged thanks to Charlie McAvoy’s overtime winner. The game was scoreless after two periods until Lohrei scored 8:22 into the third and the Kings responded with six minutes left in regulation.
McAvoy finished as a hero after taking a hit into the boards from Los Angeles’ Samuel Helenius in the second period. He still needed more dental work postgame but avoided serious injury with his return.
“I wish the hits would stop coming, honestly. It’s tiring,” McAvoy said. “I just need to get some rest and I’ll be better on Thursday. We’ve just got to keep this thing going.”
The Sharks earned points in their first four March games before a 6-3 Tuesday loss to the Buffalo Sabres in their opener of a five-game road trip.
Celebrini scored for a fourth straight game and now has points in six straight (five goals, four assists), while Alexander Wennberg had a goal and an assist. But the Sabres — who have now banked multiple eight-game win streaks this season — proved to be too much.
Finding more scoring will be key down the stretch for San Jose.
Before Wennberg’s power-play goal in the third period in Buffalo, the Sharks had gone over eight periods without a player other than Celebrini or Kiefer Sherwood scoring a goal.
“We’ve got to play inside, get to the net, put pucks to the net. We’ve gotta get more people at the net,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “That’s how you score this time of year. We’ve talked about it enough.”
Of course, San Jose wouldn’t be where it is in the race without Celebrini, who is just two years removed from a Hobey Baker Award-winning college season in Boston.
Celebrini’s goal Tuesday was his 90th point this season, a mark which only Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky have reached faster in a single season as a teenager in NHL history. The 19-year-old has 33 goals and ranks fifth in the league in points.
“Obviously, we know the skill of Mack, then (Sherwood) comes in (from the Vancouver Canucks), but it’s got to be a team effort,” Wennberg said. “It’s up to everyone on the team. We can’t just rely on those guys to score.”
