Bruins vs. Sharks: Charlie McAvoy Scores in His Return as Fraser Minten's Two Goals Sink San Jose

Charlie McAvoy sat through the first six games of the season. It took him less than one period of his first game back to find the back of the net. With 1:17 left in the first, the Boston defenseman crashed the crease, JJ Peterka slid him a loose puck, and McAvoy tapped it past Yaroslav Askarov like he had never left.

That goal put Boston up 2-1, and the Bruins eventually pulled away to beat the San Jose Sharks 6-3 on Tuesday night at SAP Center for their third straight win. Fraser Minten scored twice, Matthew Poitras and Pavel Zacha also scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 35 saves as San Jose fired 38 shots his way. Ivar Stenberg, the No. 2 overall pick in June's draft, scored his first NHL goal for the Sharks in a losing cause.

McAvoy Returns, the Bruins Pull Away

McAvoy's absence was not by choice. He served a six-game suspension for slashing Buffalo's Zach Benson late in Game 6 of last season's first-round series, the game that ended Boston's playoff run. "It was just fun to be playing again. That was nice (to score)," McAvoy said.

Minten got the party started at 12:55 of the first. Casey Mittelstadt collected his own rebound behind the net and fed Minten, who had just hopped over the boards and rifled a shot over Askarov's blocker from above the right circle. "Traffic and coming off the bench, you're kind of lost, so I just tried to get it on and off the stick as quick as I could," Minten said.

San Jose answered at 15:29, when Jacob Trouba one-timed a Kiefer Sherwood feed past Swayman's blocker two seconds after a Boston penalty expired. Then McAvoy did his thing for a 2-1 lead. "I thought that was a big boy shift, and we were trying to hold onto the puck," he said.

The Sharks tied it on the power play at 5:48 of the second. Macklin Celebrini sat in the right circle, waited out the Boston penalty killers and threaded a back-door pass to Stenberg for a tap-in. "Just happy to get the first," Stenberg said. "Good play from Mack, and yeah, nice to score a goal."

Boston restored the lead at 8:42. Mark Kastelic had the puck poked away behind the San Jose net, it squirted to the left post, and Poitras jammed it home while Askarov was looking the other way.

The Turning Point

The biggest goal of the middle period came with three seconds on the clock. Morgan Geekie and Zacha broke out on a 2-on-1, Geekie found Zacha in the left slot, and Zacha's wrist shot beat Askarov's blocker for a 4-2 lead at 19:57.

That goal mattered more than it looked at the time. San Jose's power play struck again at 5:04 of the third, when Will Smith sent Stenberg down the left wing and Stenberg whipped a cross-ice feed to Celebrini for a one-timer from the right dot. Without Zacha's buzzer-beater, that is a tie game. Instead, it was 4-3, and Boston still had a cushion.

Things got heated at 6:40, when San Jose's Darnell Nurse and Boston's Nikita Zadorov fought. Nurse left the game afterward, and coach Ryan Warsofsky did not provide an update on his status. Minten then sealed it at 11:47. Luca Cagnoni blocked a pass on a Boston rush, the puck went straight to Marat Khusnutdinov, and he set up Minten at the top of the crease for a tap-in. Will Borgen banked an empty-netter off the right boards from his own zone at 18:18 for the 6-3 final.

Minten, Swayman and a Sharp Rookie

Minten has four goals on the season and finished plus-4 in 18:41. He opened the scoring and delivered the goal that iced it, which is a nice way to get the coaching staff's attention.

Swayman was not perfect, but he did not need to be. He stopped 35 of 38 shots for a .921 save percentage against a San Jose team that outshot Boston by a dozen. Geekie added two assists, and Borgen matched Minten at plus-4.

For San Jose, Celebrini and Stenberg each had a goal and an assist, and Dmitry Orlov had two assists. Celebrini said the power play fixed itself mid-game. "First couple power plays weren't as crisp as we would have liked, and we understood that and got the message," he said. "I think we executed a lot better."

Askarov had a rough night, stopping 20 of 25 shots for an .800 save percentage.

Stats That Matter

• 38-26: San Jose's edge in shots. The Sharks had the volume; Boston had the finish.
• 2-for-4: San Jose's power play. Boston went 0-for-2 and still won by three.
• 19-9: Boston's edge in blocked shots, a sign of how many lanes the Bruins clogged.
• 3: Seconds left in the second when Zacha restored the two-goal lead.

What It Means

Boston improves to 5-2-0 with 10 points and 2-1-0 on the road, and the three-game winning streak now comes with McAvoy back in the lineup. Coach Marco Sturm was blunt about the performance. "We'll definitely take the two points. It probably wasn't our best game," he said. "Few too many turnovers, a little bit sloppy, but we found a way to win a hockey game."

San Jose drops to 3-3-0 with six points and 2-2-0 at home. The Sharks have lost two straight and three of four, per NHL.com. Warsofsky still saw progress. "I thought it was a step in the right direction," he said. "I think you create your own luck and you create your own puck luck, and I thought we did some things that we've talked about the last couple of days."

The Bruins visit Anaheim on Friday night. The Sharks visit Nashville on Thursday night.

Closing Take

McAvoy's return played like the moment a key character comes back in a prestige drama after a few episodes offscreen: the plot instantly tightens up. Boston gave up 38 shots and two power-play goals and still won by three. As Sturm put it, "That's what good teams do to close out on the road."

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.