Penguins (27-21-8) at Kraken (25-22-11) | 7:00 p.m.

One: Bjorkstrand Back in Goal Column, Burakovsky ‘Out Day-to-Day’

Before Monday’s exciting and important shootout victory over Eastern Conference power Boston, Dave Hakstol and his coaches tweaked a couple of forward lines, switching All-Star winger Oliver Bjorkstand to join Alex Wennberg and Jaden Schwartz while moving Andre Burakovsky with Yanni Gourde and Eeli Tolvanen. The Gourde line with Bjorkstrand has been the Kraken’s most consistent and productive trio all season, but NHL coaches do at times look to generate more offense by switching one wing and purposely keeping one pair together.

The results make it hard to debate the breakups because Bjorkstrand tipped in Seattle’s third goal off a perfectly timed shot from Will Borgen, who was set up by Bjorkstrand’s new-for-the-night but familiar-over-the-last-two-seasons center, Alex Wennberg. Bjorkstrand, who hadn’t scored in nine games, created a first-period scoring chance and there were more quality chances for him throughout the big win.

“For Ollie, maybe a little bit of a feeling out process in the first period even though he's played a lot of minutes with those guys,” said Hakstol. “But in the second period, he had two or three really good scoring chances. He played a good game.”

Burakovsky, who is sitting on one goal for the season with some bad puck luck (goal posts, especially) in recent games, took a hard hit Monday. Hakstol, who will coach his 500^th NHL game Thursday, said the lanky forward is “out day-to-day.”

Two: Sizing Up the Goalie Tandem, Grubauer Starts Thursday

Philipp Grubauer looked strong in net Monday and won his third game in three starts since returning to the active roster on January 22nd. Tandem partner Joey Daccord had delivered performances and victories in line with statistics that placed him top five in the NHL for save percentage and goals-against average. Teams like the strong Boston squad that was in town Monday and defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas (second in the Pacific Division), goalie tandems fueled postseason qualifications, whether nearly alternating starts (Boston) or playing hot goalie (Vegas, which, similar to Seattle, leaned heavily on one goalie when the other was on the injured list).

Deciding who starts each game in this playoff chase is effectively a problem to have. Deciding who starts each game in this playoff chase is effectively a problem to have. With Grubauer leaving the ice first during Thursday’s optional skate, expect the veteran goalie back in net to face the Penguins.

While Dave Hakstol is not prone to announce his goalie starters ahead of warm-ups these days, he has been clear that both Grubauer and Daccord will be needed and given chances to earn that night’s standings points at stake. When not playing, each will work extra time with goalie coach Steve Briere, whom Grubauer credits with keeping him sharp between occasional starts over the last month.

“All year long, we feel like we have two good, real good goaltenders,” said Hakstol after a Wednesday practice that featured a lengthy scrimmage with crisp skating and playmaking. “They've both done a very good job for our team and we'll continue to make our decisions based off of what is now a long-range plan of six, seven weeks. But mostly that's a decision that we make on a game-by-game basis.

“There's a lot that goes into [deciding the starter each game]. How we feel about each guy, how he's playing, where he's at physically, where they're at in terms of their energy levels. Some of it is matchups, but we have confidence in each of them. We discuss it as a staff. Steve [Briere] is a big part of that.”

Three: Know the Foe: Pittsburgh 3-0-1 in Last Four Games

Like the Kraken, Pittsburgh is among four teams in their conference chasing the two clubs already in wild-card position (resurgent Detroit and perennial qualifier Tampa Bay). The Penguins will be as desperate as the home team to keep within striking distance of a postseason spot, currently seven points behind Tampa and fifth among the half-dozen contenders. They beat Vancouver in overtime to start their Western road trip with Calgary and Edmonton back-to-back Saturday and Sunday (Go Pens this weekend) and have a three-game winning streak and seven of a possible eight points in their last four games. The Penguins' leading scorer is the seemingly ageless captain, Sidney Crosby, who has 32 goals and 30 assists already racked up. His long-time Cup-winning teammates are thriving too: Evgeni Malkin has 16 goals and 29 assists while defenseman Kris Letang has seven goals and 30 assists.