Conclusions: With a home slump persisting, the Bruins look for “sandpaper goals.”
The Bruins suffered their third straight home loss on Thursday night, losing 4-1 against the Kraken.
The Boston Bruins are tied for first place in the Atlantic Division for the first time since the first week of the 2023–24 campaign.
The penalty kill is still in place, but the power play seems better.
Despite some shifting players in their starting lineup, Boston’s power play is still among the best in the league, having converted on about 24% of its attempts. They have primarily depended on Brad Marchand’s half-wall skill set as their secondary setup and feeding Pastrnak for his signature one-timer from the faceoff circle.
They have, however, experienced a few frigid spells during this transitional season. One of their worst runs of the season coincides with their current 1-19 slide through the first five games of the home stand.
Once more, there was no doubting their performance against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night. After putting 11 shots on goal in the first 11 minutes of play, Jim Montgomery’s team led 1-0 when David Pastrnak beat local product Joey Daccord to score his 34th goal of the year at 4:54.
If only the remaining fifty-five minutes and so saw the Bruins get comparable attacking bursts. Rather, they were unable to sustain their early lead and continued to have more mishandled errors.
Even though they produced better looks and had greater intensity, Boston’s lifeless power play was unable to take advantage when Brandon Carlo earned a trip on Jared McCann during the next shift following Pastrnak’s basket. They missed their second chance to take the lead in the middle stanza as well.
At 9:11 of the first frame, the cunning Kraken struck, scoring on their first power play attempt. Parked along the goal line, Jordan Eberle scored his 10th goal of the season after tracking the puck through traffic in front of Jeremy Swayman’s crease and earning a second-effort point.
The Bruins persisted in pressing Daccord. However, they were defeated by yet another vicious break when Carlo gave up a lead along Boston’s blue line, which immediately created a 3-on-1 opportunity for them in transition. At 17:35 of the second, Eeli Tolvanen, who had been playing for Hingham, finished a give-and-go move with Matty Beniers on a one-timer for his 14th of the season, and the Kraken immediately seized advantage.
Beniers, who had two assists on the game-winning and tying goals, took advantage of another error following Parker Wotherspoon’s one-time attempt being stopped. At 8:36 of the last round, the former Boston University Terrier gave the Kraken some insurance with a deft wrist stroke that went by Swayman.
Through his empty-netter, McCann completed Seattle’s 4-1 triumph.
It’s excellent. After scoring three points, Beniers remarked, “It’s a really good win.” It feels great to defeat one of the league’s top clubs in Boston.
Here’s what we discovered as the Bruins end their seven-game homestand this season with a 1-3-1 record.
The Bruins wasted their three third-period power play opportunities against the Lightning. Two nights later, the Bruins created 16 high-danger scoring opportunities, primarily off the rush, but could only manage one past a game Daccord.
After two errors by Carlo and Wotherspoon near the blue line, the Kraken turned defense into attack. After Pastrnak’s goal, the Bruins were unable to purchase a break.
Maybe the recent efforts will pay off in the end. They will, at minimum, continue to strive for a few blue-collar breaks, especially if they are assigned to special teams.
Montgomery declared, “We’re going to stick together, and we’re going to keep working and keep grinding.” “Some sandpaper goals where it goes off of us and stuff will be needed.” That was not the case. We looked amazing. We made contact with postings. You have those kinds of evenings, and those things do happen.
