Boston Bruins
Bruins Survive Sharks With Late Push in Third Period

BOSTON — It had been 10 games since Charlie Coyle last scored a goal. He picked the perfect time to break the drought.
With two goals in the third period, Coyle led the Boston Bruins to a come-from-behind victory on Monday afternoon to defeat the San Jose Sharks 6-3 at TD Garden.
“Shoot more. We tell him that all the time, ” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said. “Charlie has a tendency to hold the pass at times. We have to remind him to keep putting pucks towards the head. He has a good shot. He has to utilize it more.”
Utilize it, Coyle did.
As the Bruins trailed by a goal with 12 minutes left to play, Coyle snapped a quick wrist shot from between the circles past Sharks netminder Yaroslav Askarov for his 11th goal of the season to tie the game. He then beat Askorov again to put Boston ahead by coming down the wall and sliding a shot between the goalie’s legs for his second goal of the afternoon.
“A lot of times when you put it to the net, it’s never usually a bad play,” said Coyle,” Good things happen as long as you have someone going there. I think the more we do more of that, we’ll see better results.”
Brad Marchand and Elias Lindholm each potted an empty net goal in the final minutes to secure the win for Boston, which at one point felt like a far-off possibility while they struggled to maintain momentum earlier on.
Vinni Lettieri put the Bruins on the board first at 9:21 of the opening period. After collecting a pass from Oliver Wahlstrom at the point, Jordan Oesterle sent an ankle-high slap shot toward the net that Lettieri deflected through Askorov’s legs for his second goal in as many games.
“To score on this thing, you have to be on the inside, and that’s what he does,” Sacco said. “He’s got speed to get inside. He doesn’t have size, but he has the speed to get in there, and he’s using that effectively.”
The lead, though, was short-lived, as Barclay Goodrow tied the game for San Jose three minutes later, catching them napping Maintaining momentum remained an issue for the Bruins.
When David Pastrnak put them back in front early in the second period with a goal on the man advantage, his 22nd goal of the season, Lexington-native Will Smith responded for the Sharks with a snipe from the right faceoff circle that tied that game at 2-2.
The Sharks then took the lead when Fabian Zetterlund scored at 15:18 of the middle frame, just moments after a strong effort on the power play by the Bruins went unrewarded.
It seemed that was going to be the case again when, after Coyle scored his first goal, the Bruins were forced to play shorthanded after Brad Marchand was called for tripping. But with a couple of desperation saves by Joonas Korpisalo, Boston held firm on the penalty kill.
“Going through the penalty and clearing that whole situation, it solidified us,” said Korpisalo. “We got some confidence and scored another one and another. Overall, the PK kill was pretty big.”
Korpisalo finished with 25 saves on 28 shots, making his first start in more than two weeks.
The Bruins improved their record to 23-19-6 with the win. They’ll play a back-to-back set beginning on Wednesday night at the New Jersey Devils.