Boston Bruins: B’s Set Sail On Road Trip in Seattle

The Boston Bruins had an eventful Thursday. First, they trade with Washington, then they play what could probably be one of the most annoyingly entertaining games all season.

The Bruins started the game off sloppy. A missed rotation put the Kraken on a 2-on-1 40 seconds into the game and Matty Beniers buried it to put the Kraken up 1-0. Seattle kept the Bruins on their heels in the offensive zone for much of the first period.  Boston looked like it had fallen in love with the snooze button and took a little while to get going on offense as a result of constantly having to defend. The Chezchs decided to balance the book and tie up the game at 1 with a goal from David Krejci assisted by both Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak. The Period would end tied at 1.

The referees decided they wanted to use their whistles more in the second and it junked up the entire period. Seattle pulled ahead again with a goal from Vince Dunn a minute into the period. But David Pastrnak knotted it up just a minute later with a filthy move to score his 42nd goal of the season to inch him closer to Connor McDavid. Brad Marchand was able to give the B’s a lead but Seattle answered less than a minute later. The final 2 minutes were not any tamer than the other 18 minutes of the period. Matt Grzelcyk took a slashing penalty with 2:47 left. Seattle made a mistake and Brad Marchand was able to set up Patrice Bergeron for a short-handed goal. But the lead was not held for long when Seattle got a lucky bounce with a goal coming off of a deflection from Charlie McAvoy on the power play. This crapshoot of a game went into the third frame tied at 4!

The Bruins would go into the third down a man after Charlie McAvoy got called for a hold after the final buzzer. The Bruins were able to kill off that penalty but couldn’t get any offense going until about five minutes into the third. There was a lot of back and forth all period and then Brad Marchand and Oliver Bjorkstrand both went to the box for cross-checking and Seattle was able to capitalize on the opportunity. But Brandon Carlo was able to answer 30 seconds later. That seemed to wake up Boston because 2 minutes later Jake DeBrusk tips home a Charlie McAvoy rocket to put the B’s up 6-5 with a minute and a half left in regulation for the game-winning goal and his 3rd goal in three games since returning from injury.

This game was really back and forth. The Bruins were sloppy for most of the game and that could be attributed to the lack of manpower from the trade that happened earlier in the day. But the physicality of the game took its toll on the team. It could also be due to travel.

Boston ended up being in a shoving match all game while missing Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov who would have been really helpful in a game like last night’s. Boston was passing the puck to get it off their stick and it looked like they were playing without a plan on where the puck was going. Boston got called a couple of times for slashing but nothing was called against the Kraken until the 3rd period. When on the power play the Bruins couldn’t seem to hit the net. The Bruins were outshot throughout the whole game and Seattle definitely looked like the fresher team after 4 days off. Boston couldn’t create space away from the defense and their passing suffered as a result. Boston tried giving this game away but great teams find ways to win tough games and that is what the Bruins did last night. The atmosphere in Climate Pledge Arena last night was amazing! both fan bases came out strong and you could hear distinct chants from each side. A Stanley cup final between these teams would be both entertaining and would qualify as a WWE Pay-Per-View.

Boston will look to add Tomas Nosek along with Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway over the rest of this trip. The Bruins will head to Vancouver for a matchup against the Canucks on Saturday. Look for Linus Ullmark to get the start there. Gritty win but it’s a win! The best team in hockey, go B’s!