Bruce Cassidy wins debut as coach of Bruins

BOSTON -- Bruce Cassidy got a win in his coaching debut, and Patrice Bergeron had a goal and three assists when the Boston Bruins defeated the San Jose Sharks 6-3 at TD Garden on Thursday.
The Bruins (27-23-6), who promoted Cassidy from assistant coach after firing Claude Julien on Tuesday, ended a two-game skid despite playing without defenseman Zdeno Chara because of illness.
"I feel great," Cassidy said. "It's been a busy two or three days, so I'll tell you this, I'm going to sleep well tonight. But tomorrow's a new day, we'll get back to work and see if we can build on this one. But I mean, yeah, who doesn't enjoy a win?"

WATCH: All Sharks vs. Bruins highlights
Bruins forward David Pastrnak scored twice for the second straight game, David Backes had a goal and two assists, and Tuukka Rask made 23 saves.
Joe Thornton, Justin Braun and Timo Meier scored for the Sharks (33-18-4), who have lost their past three games (0-1-2). Martin Jones allowed three goals on 12 shots before he was pulled at the start of the second period. Aaron Dell made 18 saves in relief.
"We weren't strong anywhere. Special teams, in front of our own net, in front of their net," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "So that's what you get when you play like that."

Backes scored his first goal in 13 games 52 seconds into the game. Thornton tied it 1-1 with a wrist shot from the left dot at 7:51.
Bergeron scored at 15:52 to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead after Backes tipped Brandon Carlo's shot through Jones. Bergeron stuffed in the loose puck behind the goaltender.
The Bruins took a 3-1 lead when Bergeron set up Pastrnak's power-play goal at 17:31.
Braun's shot from the top of the left circle got past Rask 1:08 into the second period to cut the lead to 3-2.
Bruins forward Tim Schaller scored on a rebound at 13:04, and Pastrnak's goal with 48.4 seconds left gave the Bruins a 5-2 lead.
Meier cut the Boston lead to 5-3 at 17:23 of the third period.
Brad Marchand hit an empty net with 29.3 remaining for a 6-3 lead.

Goal of the game

Backes started Cassidy's tenure off right with a one-timer from the high slot past Jones. Defenseman Torey Krug made a pass out of the corner after a heavy forecheck by David Krejci forced a San Jose giveaway below the goal line.

Save of the game

With the Bruins on the power play and leading 3-2 Rask denied Joel Ward on a 2-on-1 at 11:22 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Pastrnak scored his first goal of the game on a one-timer, beating Jones from the left hash mark.

Unsung performance of the game

The line of Schaller, Dominic Moore and Riley Nash got rewarded when Schaller scored but the importance of that line couldn't be understated. Schaller's goal came after a Sharks penalty kill could've shifted momentum. The Bruins fourth line did yeoman's work on the forecheck and the cycle before the goal and throughout the game. All three forwards contributed to Boston's 2-for-2 penalty kill performance.

They said it

"You knew they would have a little wakeup call over there and they would come out ready to play. You know what, as players you understand that, you have to match the effort. That's the bottom line and the puck was going in the net different ways early on and they found a way to keep it going." -- Sharks captain Joe Pavelski
"You jump on the ice and all of the sudden you're in the slot with the puck rolling at you. Those are the ones you dream about. I was able to put that in and the rest of the game started to slow down for me. I stopped squeezing my stick into a bunch of shrapnel out there and was able to capitalize." -- Bruins forward David Backes on scoring in the opening minute of the game

Need to know

Thornton has 1,375 points in his NHL career, passing Mike Modano for 23rd on the all-time list. ... Braun's goal was the 100th point of his NHL career. ... Jones has been pulled twice this season. The last time was Nov. 5, when he allowed three goals on seven shots in a 5-0 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins. ... Sharks defenseman Brent Burns had his 14-game road point streak end. He had 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) during the streak. ... Bergeron has a six-game point streak with 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in that span.

What's next

Sharks:At the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, CSN-PH, CSN-CA, NHL.TV)
Bruins: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; SN, NESN, NHL.TV)