The Need to Knows
- The Time: 7pm PT
- The Place: Climate Pledge Arena in Beautiful Seattle, WA
- Place to Watch: KONG, KHN Networks, Amazon Prime, NESN (Bruins feed)
- Place to Listen: KJR 93.3-FM via Kraken Audio Network
- An Opposing Viewpoint: Stanley Cup of Chowder
Know Your Enemy
- The Bruins are 3rd in the Atlantic Division with a 15-12-3 record, and 33 points in the standings.
- The Bruins’ leading man in points is David Pastrnak with 28 in 30 games, and Brad Marchand leads the Black and Gold in goals with 11 in 30 games.
- In spite of their place of the standings, the Bruins have one of the worst goal differentials in the Eastern Conference; with -19.
- It’s been a weird year for the Bruins in net. They’ve just paid Jeremy Swayman a lot of money after a big public spat, and he has rewarded that with a 9-10-0 record, an .885 SV%, and uh…just got dunked on by the Jets in an 8-1 shellacking. So instead I suspect we’ll be seeing Joonas Korpisalo, who has ended up with a .909 SV% in 9 starts.
Game Notes
The Kraken played the Panthers about as well as you can without winning, especially given that they ended up losing Yanni Gourde in the third period and for the entirety of overtime, and managed to walk away with a point. I’d have loved the second point, but that was an effort to be proud of.
And they’re gonna need that moral victory to carry into tonight, because Boston is coming into this game very unhappy about what just happened to them on Tuesday.
Boston isn’t exactly the possession-heavy behemoths they used to be. They’re a lot better post-firing Jim Montgomery, but a lot of the new coach luster has begun to wear off and the realities of what they’ve built are beginning to set in; while they can still be a defensive stalwart, they have a dearth of finish on their squad. As previously noted, only David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand seem to be doing a good portion of the scoring, and Marchand himself only recently rounded back into form. This leaves with a bunch of players kind of…bereft of scoring talent. That doesn’t mean they can’t, it just means they have to work three times as hard to get there most nights.
If the Kraken want to beat Boston, in previous years I’d suggest taking advantage of their special teams debacles or their propensity to turn the puck over at the blueline. This year? Even more than any other team the Kraken have faced, skating speed will kill these Bruins better than anything else; their defense is playing well below their standards and even worse, are playing like they’re at .75x speed. If they can take advantage of that, then the Kraken get to face a goaltending corps; either Korpisalo or Swayman, who aren’t nearly as much of a strength as it was in years past (or maybe they’re just not getting any goal support?), so if the Bruins give up a chance or two, make sure you get it fast. If there’s a turnover, turn on the jets. Also, if the Peeke-Lohrei pairing are on the ice, be ready to get a gift or two. Mason Lohrei and Andrew Peeke are an absolute nightmare pairing and the fact that they keep seeing ice time is a stunning admission that the B’s don’t have much else.
That said, if there are things the Kraken need to watch out for, it is unquestionably Boston’s leading goalscorers, who have the unenviable task of moving heaven and earth for this team without a Hampus Lindholm to maybe take a little bit of the edge away, and so are relied upon to create the lion’s share of chances, Justin Brazeau; who seems to have been grown in a lab for the sole purpose of being an exceptional Boston Bruin, and under no circumstances is this game to go to Overtime. As of right now nobody seems to have a hard answer for David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha at 3-on-3, and I don’t think the Kraken are going to be the first ones to figure it out.