Sharks 2023-24 Game 4 Recap: Bruins 3, Sharks 1 (10/19/23)

 The Sharks close out their season-opening homestand winless, losing 3-1 to the Boston Bruins. 

The Bruins kicked off the scoring late in the first period with two quick goals from Brad Marchand and James Van Riemsdyk. The second Bruins goal that was initially credited to Frederic should’ve been challenged for goalie interference after Kaapo Kahkonen was pushed into the net by the stick of James Van Riemsdyk in the process, but David Quinn and the Sharks coaching staff opted not to use their challenge. Earlier on in the first period, Milan Lucic checked Matt Benning near the blue line, making contact with Benning’s head and shaking him up. This hit resulted in Benning heading off to the dressing room to be spotted for a possible concussion, but he was able to return for the start of the second period. 

Late in the middle frame, the Bruins extended their lead to three on an unusual goal by David Pastrnak while being back-checked by Marc-Eduoard Vlasic. The Sharks finally got on the board in the third period after Anthony Duclair scores on the backhand and gets a lucky bounce off of Linus Ullmark for his first goal as a Shark. Tomas Hertl collected the lone assist on the goal by Duclair. 

Kaapo Kahkonen recorded 33 saves in the Sharks’ fourth straight defeat. The rest of the Sharks played better in front of Kahkonen tonight, but their efforts weren’t enough to get the win. 

Kevin Labanc drew back into the lineup tonight after being a healthy scratch in the Sharks’ first three games of the season. An initial report suggested that Labanc was being placed on waivers this morning, but this wasn’t the case. In addition, the Sharks re-assigned Henry Thrun to the Barracuda yesterday and placed Radim Simek on waivers earlier today. 

In all, the Sharks had their best performance and the most opportunities on offense tonight against the Bruins more than their first three games this season, but they have still yet to get over the hump during this tough stretch of games. With the Seattle Kraken’s 7-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Sharks stand alone as the only winless team remaining in the NHL this season. Next up, Team Teal embarks on its first road trip of the season, starting with the first stop on Saturday in Nashville against the Predators at 5 pm PT. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, ESPN, Curtis Pashelka via Twitter/X 

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