Kraken @ Bruins PREVIEW: Bear Wrestling

The Need to Knows:

• The Time: 4pm PT
• The Place: TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
• Place to Watch: ROOT-Northwest, NESN, ESPN+/SportsNet+
• Place to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM
• An Opposing Viewpoint: Stanley Cup of Chowder

Know Your Enemy

• The Bruins lead the Eastern Conference at the moment, with a 32-11-10 record; good for 74 points.
• To the shock of nobody, David Pastrnak is the leading goalscorer and assist getter on the B’s with 77 points in 53 games, that splits out to 33 goals, and 44 assists.
• To the horror of just about everybody who knows him, Brad Marchand, rat extraordinaire, has come alive in this 2nd half of the season; with 50 points in 53 games, he’s nursing 3 points in his last 3 games, two of which were important assists in getting them to OT in their most recent game. Oh, and he’s played 1000 games. In case you thought justice was a real concept.
• The Bruins’ special teams are quite formidable this year; boasting an 8th in the league in PP% man-advantage, and a 7th in the league PK%. In short, stay the hell out of the box either way, because their ability to generate chances at even strength is actually just about middle of the road, even with the talent they have on hand.
• The B’s goaltending is an embarrassment of riches: they have Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark; both of whom have taken a nearly equal amount of workload, and are 2nd and 5th in the NHL Respectively among starters in SV% (which in this case means “Has played at least 25 Games.”). Swayman has a .922 SV%, and Ullmark a .917 SV%. Ullmark played against the Lightning, so presumably Swayman will take tonight’s matchup.

Game Preview

So! After gritting out a tough win over the New York Islanders in the shootout, you’d figure tonight’s game is going to be even tougher, right? Big bad Bruins, everyone’s opinion on Boston generally being as it is, we’re in for a war, right?

Yeah…No. It seems the Kraken have caught Boston going through some things.

The Bruins are 1-3-1 through their last 5 games and frankly, have looked dreadful throughout. While they do live up to their physical character most of the time, the reality of having no true #1 Centers has finally come home to roost on Boston’s play. They alternate nights of being highly competent and then genuinely struggle at getting shots off, and while they love their board play…they never really seem to do much with it lately. As a result? They are looking as vulnerable and as out of sorts as they’re ever gonna be.

Even better news for Seattle; the B’s put on as good a performance as they could’ve against the Lightning…and lost anyway. Meaning the Hyde of this Dr. Jekyll team is due to emerge once again. Even better, in the desperate push for a playoff spot; the Kraken have gotten an insane stroke of luck; every single team ahead of them in the standings lost at the same time the Kraken won their shootout over the Islanders, and could get the same kind of help tonight: Nashville’s playing Dallas, New Jersey’s on a tear and taking on the flailing Kings, St. Louis draws Edmonton, and Calgary?…is playing the Sharks, so they’re probably going to win their game. Still, if the only “should” win of the night potentially kicking you down the stairs of the playoff hunt is a game against San Jose, you’re in a good spot.

The Kraken, a team that has had immeasurable trouble taking opportunities when they are presented on a silver platter, are having an opportunity once again wafted under their noses on a shining Oneida plate. They need to take this.

As for how to beat them? It’s not gonna be easy; while Boston is not exactly a powerhouse, the Bruins win their games on the backs of crazy goaltending and defensive structure; they make it enormously difficult to take shots from the outside and even harder to get to their goalies. And if you get to their goalies? You face two of the league’s finest. Every shot will count.

So how is it done? Dictate the pace. Boston has been going through slow starts and sluggish skating for the last couple of weeks; they don’t get many shots through, and when they do, it is almost always directly in front of the net. Deny them the net-front, and they will immediately begin to struggle. Get them struggling, and the Kraken can start taking advantage of their lack of skating speed and create openings in that stoic backcheck.

From there? Scoring chances.

They had a pretty strong response game against the Islanders. Let’s see if they can keep the momentum going against the