SAN JOSE, Calif.The Bruins winning streak was nice while it lasted.
Once again, Boston couldnt stretch their winning roll past two games and struggled in their first game out on the West Coast in a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks at the HP Pavilion.
Its Bostons fourth straight loss on the road coming after the hellish road trip through Pittsburgh and Florida earlier this month.
The Bruins were in the game for the first two periods of play when it was simply a one-goal game, but a Daniel Winnik bomb off a failed Bs scoring attempt gave San Jose all the insurance offense they would need.
The Bs offense managed just 12 shots on net against a determined bunch of Sharks defenders attempting to get back into the playoff picture. The team has never defeated Antti Niemi in his NHL career; Niemi improved to 5-0 against the Bruins with the win over Boston.
Bostons best offensive chances came in the second period when Milan Lucic hit a crossbar off a slick David Krejci pass from the right wing, and when Niemi was able to smother a Brad Marchand bid on an odd-man rush. Then Zdeno Chara finally broke through during a good shift for the Bs third line and he fired a puck off Niemis shoulder when he was down in his own crease.
Other than that it was nearly a complete offensive no-show for a group of forwards that looked unstoppable against the weak Maple Leafs.
San Joses first goal arrived when Lucic tossed a puck away at the blue line in the defensive zone, and put the Sharks into attack mode. Eventually Joe Thornton made the textbook dish from behind the net to Patrick Marleau. Thomas made the initial stop on Marleau, but Joe Pavelski batted the puck past the Bs goaltender when Bostons defensemen couldnt clear the puck from the front of the net.