SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The Boston Bruins' Charlie McAvoy scored with 1:03 remaining in overtime, spoiling the first hat trick for the San Jose Sharks' Joe Thornton in almost nine years.
McAvoy clinched a 6-5 win for the Bruins at SAP Center on Monday after his teammate Chris Wagner tied the game at 18:11 of the third, taking the fun out of Thornton's big night.
Thornton refused to hide his emotions after he completed his first hat trick since Oct. 27, 2010. He raised his arms in joy, laughed and smiled as the hats poured down from the stands at SAP Center.
The Sharks alternate captain scored his third of the night by firing the puck into the top shelf from the high slot off a pass from Joe Pavelski at 13:32 of the third. Thornton scored his first with just 2.7 seconds left in the first, knocking the puck over the goal line in a mad scrum in front of the Bruins net to give the Sharks life after they fell behind 3-0 in the opening frame. He scored his second of the night in the middle frame, punching in a Radim Simek shot that found its way into the paint off a Marcus Sorensen redirection.
The Bruins tied the game at 5-5 with 1:49 left in the third when Chris Wagner tipped in a Brandon Carlo shot under controversial circumstances as he appeared to hit the puck with a high stick.
With the loss, the Sharks fell two points behind the Calgary Flames for first place in the Pacific Division standings.
The Bruins opened the scoring at 13:49 of the first, getting a goal from their second-ranked power play. Defenseman Torey Krug skated down into the left circle and blasted the puck past Martin Jones on his stick side after the Bruins created space for him by pulling the Sharks' penalty kill over to the right side of the rink.
Zdeno Chara added to the lead at 16:26, putting another puck past Jones on his short side with a shot from above the left circle after Tomas Hertl lost a faceoff to Sean Kuraly. The goal ended up being particularly hurtful considering that head coach Pete DeBoer got the matchup he wanted, skating Hertl's line against the Bruins' fourth line.
Karson Kuhlman capped off the Bruins' first-period goal parade at 18:24, converting a two-on-one pass from Jake DeBrusk after David Krejci flipped the puck over the Sharks' defense.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic made a game-saving play in the middle of the period, swatting the puck off the goal line after a Chris Wagner shot got past Jones.
The second period proved to be just as wild as the first with the teams combining for four more goals. Joe Pavelski scored his team-leading 32nd of the season at 2:24, Thornton got his second at 16:03 and Logan Couture tied it up at 4-4 by converting a shorthanded penalty shot with just 27 seconds left in the period.
The Bruins got their fourth goal from DeBrusk at 6:30, scoring their second power play goal of the night.
