BOSTON (AP) Bruins forward Brad

Marchand has used the past few days since his team was eliminated in the second round in five games by the Tampa Bay Lightning to reflect on his role in the loss.Marchand drew national attention and a reprimand from the NHL after he was caught licking the face of Lightning forward Ryan Callahan during a confrontation in the Lightning’s 4-3 overtime Game 4 win that pushed the Bruins to the brink of elimination.For Marchand Adidas Dalton Prout Jersey , who scored 34 goals during the regular season and represented the Bruins at the All-Star Game, the licking incident added to his list of infractions. He has been suspended by the NHL six times and fined three.Now Marchand is thinking about cleaning up his act.”After having a couple days kind of looking back on the year and seeing what’s happened the last few days I guess, with all the media and everything, I think the biggest thing for me now is to really take a pretty hard look in the mirror and realize the actions, some of the things that I’m doing, have much bigger consequences,” Marchand said during the Bruins’ breakup day at the Warrior Ice Arena on Wednesday.”Especially the last thing I ever want to do is kind of bring the embarrassment on my teammates and the organization that it did. I have to be a lot better. I know I’ve said that in the past, but I think that that’s got to be the thing that I really work on the most.”I think I’ve gotten my game into a pretty decent spot, but I got some character things and things that I’ve done that clearly need some fixing.”The Bruins may not have to change much despite coming up short in their quest for their first Stanley Cup since 2011. They won 50 games for the 10th time in franchise history and finished second in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Tampa Bay.They went 14-0-4 from Dec. 16 to Jan. 25 Adidas Derek Ryan Jersey , which was their longest point streak since they went 18 games (13 wins, five ties) without a loss from Dec. 28, 1968 to Feb. 5, 1969 and tied for the second-longest point streak in team history.One year after losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Ottawa Senators, the Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round and advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2014.They accomplished this while losing 304 regular-season man games to injury and integrating five rookies to the lineup.”We started with some injuries as you saw. … But then we got most of our guys back and we started playing with a full lineup and it showed on the ice. We were slowly and surely climbing the standings,” Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said.”We faced some challenges about three-fourths into season again with some injuries, still we had guys filling the gaps and the roles and we kept finding ways to win games. So that’s very positive about this team and resiliency and never-give-up attitude.”Many Bruins players were still coming to terms with being eliminated.Several others, including Patrice Bergeron (groin), David Backes (concussion), Torey Krug (fractured ankle) and Marchand (groin) Adidas James Neal Jersey , were dealing with injuries as often happens with Cup contending teams this far into the playoffs.But to a man they were confident that there are better things ahead for the Bruins, who have seven unrestricted free agents among the 26 players that finished the season on their roster.”I think the thing that we’re excited about next year is we have a lot of the team returning, which is huge. It was a big learning experience for the young guys that came in,” Marchand said.”A lot of highs and lows so it should be a learning experience for them, and same with us (the veterans), we can always draw a lot from each and every year. … So hopefully we can all bring the benefits from this season into next year and be even better.”— SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) San Jose coach Peter DeBoer talks about Logan Couture as playing at another level at this time of the year. Couture proved his coach right once again.Couture scored his NHL-leading 16th go-ahead goal six minutes into the third period and the Sharks improved their chances for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.”It was a big power play,” Couture said. ”I think we moved the puck around OK on the first one we had. The second one, just a great play by (Kevin) Labanc to find me. (Goalie Jonathan) Bernier was out of the net. Actually, the puck hopped on my stick. I wasn’t trying to shoot it along the ice. I got a little lucky.”Justin Braun Adidas Austin Czarnik Jersey , Tomas Hertl and Joonas Donskoi also scored for the Sharks, who snapped a four-game losing streak and kept their one-point lead over the Anaheim Ducks for second-place in the Pacific Division.”That’s not an easy game for us under the circumstances and some of the guys out,” DeBoer said. ”I thought we dug deep and found a way to win an important game at an important time of year.”Mikko Rantanen and Blake Comeau scored for the Avalanche, who missed an opportunity to increase their lead over the St. Louis Blues for a playoff spot.Martin Jones stopped 23 shots for the Sharks. Bernier saved 32 for the Avalanche.Less than three minutes into the first period, Braun scored on a slap shot from just inside the blue line that deflected off the arm or stick of a Colorado defender, giving Bernier no chance to adjust.”That was huge. We needed that just to kind of put those other teams in the rear view a little bit,” Braun said. ”If we hold onto second here on Saturday and go from there, get home ice in the first round. It would be huge.”The Avalanche tied the score with a power-play goal at 15:17. Jones blocked the first two shots but could not control them. The second bounced free toward the side, and Rantanen was able to get it by a diving Jones.Tyson Barrie earned an assist on the play, giving him a career-best 43. His 56 points match Rob Blake for most by an Avalanche defenseman in the past 16 years.Colorado has scored on the power play in each of its last four games and is 6 of 11 during that span. It also has allowed a power-play goal in each of the past five games.Couture scored on a power play 77 seconds after the Avalanche tied the game. Labanc recorded the first assist with a nice crossing pass.The Blues will enter Saturday’s game in Denver either up a point or down a point Adidas Elias Lindholm Jersey , meaning the final game of the regular season will determine which team goes to the playoffs and which team goes home.”We’ll have to take advantage of home ice. This is Game 7 for us,” said Mark Barberio, who returned to action after a long absence. ”These are the moments we play for: a chance to make the playoffs.”Donskoi scored midway through the final period to make it 3-1. Dylan DeMelo took a shot that Bernier stopped, but Donsoi took it away and put it in the net before Bernier could cover.Two minutes later, Comeau redirected a shot by David Warsofsky to make it 3-2.Hertl scored an empty-net goal in the final two seconds.”It comes down to one game. It’s going to be a fun one,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. ”We’ll have to earn every inch of the ice.”NOTES: Colorado C Carl Soderberg played in his 399th NHL game. … Couture has points in three of his last four games. … Sharks F Evander Kane missed his second straight game as a result of an upper-body injury sustained last Saturday in Las Vegas.UP NEXT:Avalanche: Host St. Louis on Saturday in the regular-season finale.Sharks: Host Minnesota on Saturday in the regular-season finale.—