Carlsson's memorable debut helps Sharks claim victory over Bruins

Boston Globe

23-03-2025

Circling to the right circle, Carlsson backhanded a rebound past Joonas Korpisalo after the Bruins goalie stopped the original point shot from Will Smith.
Barclay Goodrow added an empty netter for the final.
It was a particularly bitter pill to swallow for the Bruins, who had dominated the third period after tying the game late in the second period.
'I think obviously there was probably a stretch we could have played better, but I thought overall it was pretty good and we had them on their heels and maybe it's a heck of a block [by Korpisalo] and just an unlucky bounce really, to be honest,' said Casey Mittelstadt, who scored Boston's lone goal. 'So yeah, that one hurts for sure, but got to regroup quick and get back at it [Sunday in Los Angeles].'
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Korpisalo made 19 saves, several in the spectacular category to keep the Bruins in it over the first 40 minutes. He made several highlight saves in the moments before Carlsson's winner.
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'We just got a little bit hemmed in and their first line has really skilled guys,' said Korpisalo. 'A couple of seam passes and it opens up in the middle and just a weird bounce and that's how it works.'
Boston, which had beaten San Jose 15 straight times, lost its fifth straight in falling to 30-32-9.
Jakub Lauko took it upon himself to make sure there would be no slow start in the Shark Tank as he invited Goodrow to a good old-fashioned throw down.
With many fans still settling into their seats with their sushi boats -- yup, they have 'em here -- the two wingers exchanged a few haymakers, much to the delight of both benches.
It was the first bout for Lauko since returning to his Black & Gold roots at the trade deadline.
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With Mark Kastelic on the shelf for the foreseeable future with an upper-body injury, Lauko's fourth-line physicality will be consistently counted on. Fabian Lysell flashed his speed and shiftiness on an early shift, accelerating through the neutral zone and into the Sharks end where he drew a hooking call on Ty Dellandrea.
The Bruins couldn't take advantage of the power play, however, failing to land a single shot on Alexandar Georgiev.
The Sharks earned a pair of power plays (Henri Jokiharju and Pavel Zacha tripping calls), but the Boston power play was on point, allowing just one real threat, a one-timer from William Eklund that Korpisalo squeezed.
Alexander Wennberg threatened to open the scoring early in the second when he danced by Mason Lohrei and got to Korpisalo's doorstep, but the Bruins netminder flashed the right pad to keep it scoreless.
Moments later, however, the Sharks took the lead. William Eklund won a puck battle with Casey Mittelstadt in his own end and fired a pass to Macklin Celebrini, who was streaking up the right side.
Unmarked as he coasted into the Bruins end, Celebrini, the former Boston University star and No. 1 overall pick last spring, slid a slick cross-slot pass back to Eklund, who beat Korpisalo five-hole with just over two minutes gone by in the second.
Luca Cagnoni playing in just his second NHL game, earned the secondary assist, his first career point. Cagnoni is the first defenseman from the 2023 draft to reach the NHL.
He picked up his first career penalty minutes later when he held a hustling Lauko as the winger motored into the San Jose end.
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The Boston power play was more connected this time around, landing several good chances but no goals.
Boston finally gave the many thousands of fans donning Bruins sweaters something to cheer about when Mittelstadt tied things at 16:50.
Georgiev misplayed a puck behind the net and shoveled it to Vincent Desharnais. Cole Koepke forced a surprised Desharnais to cough it up to front of the net where Mittelstadt pounced and punched it in the open net to even things at 1, where it stood after 40 minutes.
'Great forecheck by Cole and pretty much just looked up and the puck is sitting there for me, so I don't get too many like that,' said Mittelstadt. 'I'll definitely take it.'
Jim McBride can be reached at