Brent Burns -- and that beard of his -- has set a new San Jose Sharks franchise record. And in doing so, he helped his team defeat the Boston Bruins by a final score of 3-2 on Tuesday.
Burns scored the tying goal in the second period and assisted on the eventual winner from Joonas Donskoi in the third, giving the affable Sharks’ defenseman 64 points on the season.
He’s still nine points back of Senators’ blue liner Erik Karlsson, who leads all NHL defensemen with 73 points after a three-point performance and OT winner on Tuesday, as he takes another run at the Norris Trophy.
The loss, combined with a Florida Panthers win over the Montreal Canadiens, puts the Bruins second in the Atlantic Division. Boston nearly tied the game right at the buzzer but Torey Krug was denied by James Reimer on a last-second opportunity off the rush.
Julien: "Sometimes you look at your team’s effort and how hard they played, and you can’t be necessarily disappointed with that"
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 16, 2016
The Sharks might have a tougher time trying to win the Pacific Division, especially after the L.A. Kings thoroughly beat Chicago and Dallas on back-to-back nights on the road, sending a statement to the rest of the league, and the Anaheim Ducks have won seven of their last 10 games.
San Jose stays five points back of L.A. for that division.