BOSTON – Joe Thornton returned to Boston in his 1,001st NHL game for a video tribute and an early assist as the San Jose Sharks beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins 4-2 on Saturday night.

Benn Ferriero broke a third-period tie with 11:12 left, and Anti Niemi stopped 37 shots for the Sharks, who have won consecutive games for the first time this season.

Milan Lucic scored for Boston, then assisted on Tyler Seguin’s tying goal just 29 seconds later as the Bruins rallied to tie it in the third period. But Ferriero, a Boston native who played at Boston College and in the minors in nearby Worcester, slammed in a rebound for the winner.

Patrick Marleau scored an empty-netter with 4.8 seconds left.

Tim Thomas made 26 saves for the Bruins, who are 2-4 at home as they attempt to defend their NHL title. They have scored four goals total in the four losses.

Boston picked Thornton No. 1 overall in the 1997 draft, but shipped him away after eight seasons amid complaints he wasn’t tough enough to lead the Bruins to a championship. It took another six years, but the Bruins finally won the Stanley Cup in 2011, and that seemed to make both sides forget the somewhat acrimonious way he was shipped out of town.

During a first-period commercial break, the Bruins played a video tribute to Thornton to congratulate him on playing his 1,000th NHL game a night earlier in New Jersey. He waved to the crowd as it gave him a nice ovation, and both benches banged their sticks in his honor.

“This is where it all started,” Thornton said after the game. “They gave me my chance. I love coming back to the city. I’ve still got so many friends here.”

The game was just 72 seconds old when Joe Pavelski collected a loose puck at the blue line, skated in and snapped a wrist shot past Thomas’ glove. San Jose scored again in the second period when Martin Havlat dug out a puck behind the net and passed it to Logan Couture in the slot to make it 2-0.

PREDATORS 2, FLAMES 0: Pekka Rinne made 33 saves for his first shutout of the season and 21st of his career, as Nashville won at Calgary.

Niclas Bergfors and Sergei Kostitsyn scored to help the Predators snap a four-game winless streak.

CANUCKS 3, WILD 2: Sami Salo scored on a power play at 4:39 of overtime, leading Vancouver past visiting Minnesota.

SENATORS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3: Milan Michalek scored with 4.7 seconds remaining as Ottawa won at home.

MAPLE LEAFS 5, CANADIENS 4: Mikhail Grabovski scored his second goal of the game 1:23 into overtime to give Toronto a win at Montreal.

CAPITALS 7, RED WINGS 1: Mike Green had two goals and two assists, Matthieu Perreault added two goals and Washington routed visiting Detroit in a matchup of the NHL’s last remaining unbeaten teams.

BLUES 4, FLYERS 2: Kent Huskins and T.J. Oshie scored early goals and Brian Elliott was strong in net to lead St. Louis to a win at Philadelphia.

PENGUINS 4, DEVILS 1: Jordan Staal scored twice to give him 100 career goals, James Neal added his NHL-leading eighth goal and Pittsburgh, at home, won its third consecutive game.

LIGHTNING 3, SABRES 0: Martin St. Louis scored a nifty goal, Mathieu Garon earned his 20th NHL shutout and Tampa Bay won at home.

PANTHERS 4, ISLANDERS 2: Tim Kennedy scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Jacob Markstrom earned his first NHL victory in relief of Jose Theodore, leading Florida past visiting New York.

JETS 5, HURRICANES 3: Andrew Ladd scored and Nik Antropov added a pair of assists to lead Winnipeg past visiting Carolina.

NOTES

TRADE: Carolina traded left wing David Booth, center Steve Reinprecht and a third-round pick in 2013 to Vancouver for forwards Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm.