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Kraken (5-6-1) at Bruins (5-6-1) | 2:00 p.m.
One: Just deal with it
The Bruins have the NHL’s second tallest and heaviest roster and play a high energy, physical game the Kraken must be ready to match from the get-go. They also need to maintain that energy and competitiveness for three periods without sagging the moment something doesn’t go their way.
The Kraken actually did begin Saturday night’s game in Ottawa aggressively against a passive-looking Senators team that had lost the night before. They got their first shot on goal by Brandon Montour in the opening minute and some hits from him, Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev.
Then, crickets. The next shot didn’t come until a Tanev snapper nearly nine minutes later. What happened prior was a fluke Ottawa goal around the five-minute mark when Philipp Grubauer failed to cover up a loose puck in his crease on an otherwise strong night for the netminder.
The puck was knocked free and swatted home. After the goal was initially waved off, a video review overturned that, and the Kraken faded from there.
“I didn’t like the response after the goal there,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “Our play dipped for a considerable time after they got the call, after they got the goal. And really, we were never able to take the speed and pace of the game to Ottawa as a result.”
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Kraken didn’t generate a single high-danger scoring chance until getting four in the final period. But they were already down two goals by then and were still out-chanced 8-4 overall from high-danger areas.
Team captain Jordan Eberle called out the lack of “compete” level on puck battles. That’s the energy part of beating the Bruins that needs to get fixed.
Two: Homecoming Time
When last seen in Boston back in February, the Kraken stunned the Bruins 4-1 behind strong efforts by local Massachusetts products Matty Beniers and Joey Daccord. Beniers had two goals and an assist, while Daccord was nearly unbeatable in turning aside 36 of 37 shots.
And they could certainly use a repeat of those feats. The two goals scored in that game by Beniers match the total he’s accumulated through a dozen games this season, so a big day here would certainly go a long way for him and a Kraken team that’s scored just once the prior two contests.
As for Daccord, he needs to keep stoppable pucks out of the net. As mentioned, the Kraken haven’t always reacted well to setbacks on the netminding front. You know the Bruins will be coming out strong in front of the home fans, so it’s imperative to limit the early damage.
Three: Know Your Foe
These so far aren’t the same Bruins as the Kraken’s early expansion years – meaning, the last few seasons. They’d dropped five of six until shutting out Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, hitting rock bottom in being routed 8-2 by Carolina on Thursday -- prompting fans to start calling for coach Jim Montgomery’s head.
Don’t forget, Montgomery led the Bruins to a runaway Presidents Trophy just two seasons ago with a league record 65 wins and 135 points. He followed it up last season with a solid 109 points – the third straight time the Bruins have topped the century-mark.
But Boston is a hockey town and regular seasons don’t matter much. Early playoff exits have ratcheted up the pressure on Montgomery, so don’t expect any Bruins letdowns Sunday due to playing in back-to-back games.
That said, they’ve been entirely beatable in even-strength play and shown a stunning lack of discipline at times. Starting goalie Jeremy Swayman – anointed as No. 1 when Linus Ullmark was traded to Ottawa – will play Sunday and try to get his season on-track after going 3-4-1 with a save percentage of .884 thus far. He’s allowed 2.2 goals more than “expected” based on shot quality according to MoneyPuck – ranking just 54th out of 71 goalies.
