Kraken vs. Bruins PREVIEW: Gut check time as ailing B’s come to CPA

The Need to Knows

• The Time: 7pm PT
• The Place: Climate Pledge Arena in beautiful Seattle, Washington
• Place to Watch: ROOT Sports Northwest, NESN, ESPN+/SportsNet+
• Place to Listen: KJR 93.3-FM
• An Opposing Viewpoint: Stanley Cup of Chowder

Know Your Enemy

• The Bruins are 1st in the Atlantic and tied for 1st in the Eastern Conference with a 34-12-8 record; good for 81 points.
• Once again, David Pastrnak is the engine on which the entire Boston Bruins offense runs; he’s got 82 points in 59 games, and the team lead in goals and assists by a country mile.
• Right behind him in points is the local rat; Brad Marchand. He’s got 52 points in 59 games, and while he is a pain in the ass…he’s also a major threat short-handed. Marchand is one of the better short-handed goalcorers of the modern generation; while he only has 2 so far on the year, he has 35 throughout his career, good for 9th ever. Do Not Give Him Space.
• Both Boston’s PK and Power Play are ranked 10th in the league. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. Perhaps this is how they’ve managed to stay so good even when their ability to possess the puck is well, well below NHL Average this year; they are rough at 5v5.
• Of course, that’s all well and good if you can score while you have possession, and Jeremy Swayman/Linus Ullmark have made that a much harder proposition than you think. Swayman got the Vancouver game, so it appears Ullmark will get Seattle. He has a .914 SV% in 28 games.

Game Preview

Seattle better be ready for this one. Because Boston wants this one. Badly.

The Boston Bruins, while heading up the Eastern Conference, are slumping hard. The steep cost of losing David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron at once in one offseason has at long last begun to manifest itself in the form of a team whose entire defensive structure needs everybody on it working at 110%, and the instant there’s slackers…they start losing. It doesn’t help that a number of their defenders have come back from injury, or are currently still injured, and haven’t come back at 100%. It’s all come to a head where they’ve gone to extra time in 6 of their last 7 games…and have only won exactly one of them.

The only regulation ender? Against Seattle, and we already know how that ended!

Still, that means they’re coming into this game frustrated, and looking to break a long losing streak. There are a lot of guys on that roster who may or may not be playing to keep their sweater, so Seattle needs to attack them and attack them hard. No more bad clears or puckwatching. The season depends on it.

If they can win tonight, it sets them on better paths. If they lose…well, the deadline’s next week. They’re going to be playing nothing but desperate teams from here on out.

Should be a fun one.

LETS GO KRAKEN