A couple of NHL teams got their preseason fun started early today by our schedule, mostly because they played their games in Europe. San Jose and Boston each did their part to spread the good word of the NHL to some local favorites in Ireland and Germany, and one team nearly did their ultimate part to send the hometown fans home happy.
Plus: Tyler Seguin had two goals for the Bruins including a penalty shot goal. Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic, and Brad Marchand also scored for the Bruins. Tuukka Rask scored the victory.
Minus: There was a span of nearly five minutes in the second period where the Bruins weren’t leading. It was a bummer to not see Shawn Thornton not score a goal. Thornton has family that hails from Belfast, Northern Ireland and we’re a sucker for that sort of story.
San Jose 3 - Mannheim 2 (F/SO)
Plus: Joe Thornton and Devin Steoguchi each had goals for San Jose. Mannheim’s Fred Brathwaite (yes, the former Atlanta Thrasher) and Lukas Lang were out-of-their-mind great in the game. Brathwaite stopped all 20 shots he saw his half of the game, while Lang stopped 38 out of 40 the rest of the way, ending up the hard luck loser in the shootout.
Minus: Come on, the Sharks needed to go to a shootout to beat a team from Germany’s Elite League. That’s no knock on Mannheim, but it is a huge knock on the Sharks.