The Bruins played against the Seattle Kraken at the Climate Pledge Arena on Monday, February 26th. Seattle handed the Bruins their third straight loss in a shootout, 4-3. In the past three games for the Bruins, they’ve taken 3-2 losses in overtime and a 4-3 shootout loss following two wins that came after their four-game losing streak. David Pastrnak scored two goals and had an assist, reaching his 700 NHL career points milestone.
Bruins lineup against the Kraken:
Marchand – Coyle – Richard
DeBrusk – Zacha – Pastrnak
Heinen – Geekie – Frederic
van Riemsdyk – Boqvist – Brazeau
Grzelyck – McAvoy
Lohrei – Carlo
Wotherspoon – Shattenkirk
Ullmark
Swayman
Kraken lineup against the Bruins:
McCann – Beniers – Eberle
Schwartz – Wennberg – Bjorkstrand
Tolvanen – Gourde – Burakovsky
Tatar – Yamamoto – Tanev
Dunn – Larsson
Oleksiak – Borgen
Dumoulin – Schultz
Grubauer
Daccord
David Pastrnak began the scoring at 14:07 of the first period to get his 700th NHL career point. He scored a breakaway goal after he had taken a stretch pass from Kevin Shattenkirk, who was at the blue line and chipped it over Philipp Grubauer’s glove. Pastrnak’s goal was the only goal scored in the first frame.
Tying the game 1-1 on the power play, Jordan Eberle scored his 14th goal of the season. Linus Ullmark made a clearing attempt that ended up hitting Eberle in front on the leg and fell at the top of the crease to get a tap-in. David Pastrnak put Boston ahead 2-1 with his second of the night when he struck a one-timer off Pavel Zacha’s pass from behind the net at 2:52 of the middle frame.
Vince Dunn tied it 2-2 with his 11th goal of the season, extending his goal streak to three games. Dunn scored with a snap shot off a feed by Andre Burakovsky, off a face-off at the top of the left circle. It appeared Morgan Geekie scored for Boston, however, it was successfully challenged for goaltender interference. Oliver Bjorkstrand gave Seattle a 3-2 lead when he deflected a one-timer from the point by Will Borgen. Getting the game back in a tie, 3-3, Charlie Coyle scored on the power play. Coyle redirected David Pastrnak’s shot from the right circle.
Overtime wasn’t enough for the Bruins and Kraken… they head into a shootout to determine the winning team. In the shootout, Kailer Yamamoto was the only player who scored. Philipp Grubauer stopped all three attempts from the Bruins.
Jim Montgomery on what they wanted to avoid and whether it is lack of focus or not: “We didn’t accomplish either. We talked about it in between the second about being aggressive offensively. We want to have killer instinct and extend leads… No, I think it’s sometimes when you’re in that situation and things don’t go well, you wait for things to happen instead of making things happen. I think we’re waiting for things to happen. We don’t have the right attitude to start thirds with the lead.”
Notes:
– Philipp Grubauer made 29 saves for Seattle before saving the three shots in the shootout.
– Linus Ullmark made 24 saves for Boston
– David Pastrnak joined the 700-point club when he scored the game-opener. He required the fourth-fewest games in Boston Bruins history to record 700 (338-362–700)… Pastrnak is behind Phil Esposito (447 GP), Bobby Orr (518 GP), and Rick Middleton (639 GP).
– Three Stars of the Game: (1) David Pastrnak, (2) Kailer Yamamoto, (3) Oliver Bjorkstrand
I wonder where that goofy Eddie Witchow player from the Bears is? He was on the Kracken AHL affiliate… I can’t remember what their name is… But, will he ever make the NHL?
Those 3 Hershey Bears fans who were sad when he left would be happy to see him playing in the NHL…
The last time I looked him up, there seemed to be nothing new about him since the 2022-23 season. I did just look at the Coachella Valley Firebirds roster and he’s not there… some videos came up from their YouTube channel from 6 months ago of him though.