The Kraken overcame two deficits and rallied to beat the Boston Bruins for the second time in 11 nights with a 4-3 shoot-out victory at Climate Pledge Arena.
1st Period
The goaltending match-up featured Linus Ullmark for Boston and Philipp Grubauer for Seattle.
Early highlights included Grubauer getting “inadvertently” slew-footed by 27-year-old “rookie” forward Anthony Richard. It was accidentally on purpose and got the Climate Pledge Arena crowd voicing its displeasure to the officials.
Not long after that the Bruins jumped on the board first. D-man Kevin Shattenkirk sprung the NHL’s 4th leading scorer David Pastrnak on a breakaway between Kraken D-men Will Borgen and Jamie Oleksiak and “Pasta” made no mistake. He went top shelf, glove side for his 37th goal of the season and his 700th career point.
2nd Period
The Kraken picked up the first power play of the game at the 3:03 mark when Boston winger Justin Brazeau, he of 4 NHL games played, went to the box for hooking. Seattle quickly converted thanks to a gratuitous turnover by Ullmark. The Bruins goalie tried to clear the puck from his crease and fired it directly into charging Kraken forward Jordan Eberle, who knocked it down and backhanded it into the net.
The Climate Pledge faithful were right back into it with the game tied 1-1.
Seattle picked up another power play at 7:13 when Brandon Carlo went off for cross checking Tomas Tatar, and then a 17-second 5-on-3 after the Bruins were caught for having too-many-men-on-the-ice.
Seattle failed to click.
Coming out of the final TV break of the period Seattle D-man Justin Schultz rang a shot off the post behind Ullmark with a little more than four minutes remaining. Moments later at the other end, Grubauer robbed former Kraken Morgan Geekie point blank as he thwarted a backhander.
Just after the 17-minute mark, the Kraken failed to clear a puck and it cost them. Tired legs lost track of Pastrnak, who snuck down low and ripped a shot top shelf to give Boston its second lead of the night.
2-1 Boston
3rd Period
Ullmark stopped Matty Beniers, Alex Wennberg and Jaden Schwartz shots in the first 70-seconds of the period, the last one being the best scoring opportunity.
A minute later Ullmark stopped a Kailer Yamamoto deflection from the slot.
The Kraken kept up the pressure. They had the first nine shots of the period.
The Bruins couldn’t seem to get out of their own way, couldn’t clear a puck, and Seattle finally capitalized with a Vince Dunn goal from the left circle. “Finally” coming after a sustained period of play in the Boston zone, but just 5:29 into the 3rd period.
Seven minutes in Grubauer robbed Boston captain Brad Marchand twice down low with pad saves.
At 8:28 Geekie went off for tripping Tatar and the Kraken had their fourth power play of the night. Wennberg hit the post off a scramble not long after Seattle first gained the zone, but the power play failed.
Moments after Seattle got away with having too-many-men-on-the-ice, Geekie charged in on a breakaway and scored, but it appeared that by plowing into Grubauer, he was able to push the puck into the net on a second chance.
Seattle called for video review. The goal was overturned.
Shortly after, Bruins captain Marchand fell and turned the puck over at his own blueline and Seattle made him pay. D-man Borgen stepped into a slapper from the point that Oliver Bjorkstrand was able to tip past Ullmark for the Kraken’s first lead of the game at 14:30.
Less than three minutes later, after a bizarre tripping call to Eberle, the Bruins tied the game 3-3 on their first power play of the night. It first appeared Pastrnak completed his hat trick, but Charlie Coyle tipped it in and got proper credit.
With a little more than two minutes to play, Seattle picked up their fifth man advantage, but didn’t score.
Overtime
In the first 1:40, Eberle chipped a shot just wide and Matty Beniers hit the post.
Fellow Kraken forward Andre Burakovsky went down in the left wing corner battling for a puck and skated off limping.
Grubauer stopped Jake DeBrusk on a breakaway.
Eeli Tolvanen had the last opportunity in the closing seconds and was stopped from a tough angle.
Shoot-out:
SEA: Yamamoto – YES – Wrister, low blocker
BOS: Coyle – NO – Shot, glove save
SEA: Tatar – NO – Shot, tried 5-hole. Stopped
BOS: MacAvoy – NO – Deke, lost puck on backhand
SEA: Beniers – NO – Shot, pad save
BOS: Pastrnak – NO – Shot, pad save
Shots on goal ended up 32-27 in favor of the Bruins. Power plays: Boston 1-for-1, Seattle 1-for-5.
Kraken 3 Stars:
1) Philipp Grubauer – 29 saves with some big ones along the way, and perfect in the shoot-out.
2) Vince Dunn – Scored a goal and led the club with 28+ minutes of ice time. Goals in 3 straight.
3) Oliver Bjorkstrand – Huge tip-in goal in the 3rd period. Led with 7 shots-on-g0al.
Earlier Kraken:
— Seattle Kraken Trade Talk Picks Up, Wennberg’s Name Pops
