Pluses, minuses for Bruins-Wild, Lightning-Kraken

NHL Network and ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes will offer his pluses and minuses for big games each week throughout the season.

The Boston Bruins (37-18-5) visit the Minnesota Wild (34-20-4) at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, NHL LIVE).
Then the Tampa Bay Lightning (38-15-6) visit the Seattle Kraken (18-37-6) at Climate Pledge Arena (10 p.m. ET; TNT, TVAS).
Here's my breakdown of the games.

Bruins

Pluses: Splitting up their top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak has really helped them. We know how good those three players are, but now Boston can spread out their offense. Center Craig Smith has been hot with seven goals in his past six games. Jeremy Swayman has played very well and handled the workload he has been given; the rookie goalie is 17-7-3 with a 2.06 goals-against average, .926 save percentage and three shutouts in 28 games (27 starts).
Minuses: Marchand hasn't scored a goal in eight games, and Bergeron has scored two goals in his past seven games. So it's good news for Boston that it's winning without its top offensive contributors; the Bruins are 10-1-1 in their past 12 games.

Wild

Pluses: Rookie forward Matt Boldy has scored 24 points (12 goals, 12 assists) in 27 games and has factored into their offense. Forward Kirill Kaprizov has picked up where he left off after winning the Calder Trophy, voted as the NHL rookie of the year, last season. He is tied for sixth in the NHL in scoring with 73 points (30 goals, 43 assists) in 57 games. I'm also interested to see how Tyson Jost fits in with them. The forward was acquired in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday and is expected to make his debut.
Minuses: It has been a tough run for them over the past four weeks, with a 4-9-1 mark in their past 14 games. Cam Talbot played in the NHL All-Star Game this year but the goalie has struggled since. having allowed at least four goals in six of his past seven starts. Minnesota has also struggled on special teams; it ranks 18th on the power play (19.9 percent) and 24th on the penalty kill (76.0 percent).

Lightning

Pluses: We know about all their stars -- goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, defenseman Victor Hedman and forwards Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, but the players they signed during the offseason to provide secondary scoring have stepped up. Forwards Corey Perry (33 points; 16 goals, 17 assists in 59 games) and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (17 points; seven goals, 10 assists in 58 games) have been nice additions. Tampa Bay is in second place in the Atlantic Division even it has played the most hockey of any team the past two seasons. There really hasn't been much wrong with the Lightning all season.
Minuses: Prior to a 2-1 win at the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, they had lost three straight and were outscored 15-6. With two more games before the NHL Trade Deadline on Monday, I'm wondering if they make a move like they have in each of the past two seasons when they acquired forwards Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow (2020) and defenseman David Savard (2021) on their way to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.

Kraken

Pluses: The Kraken didn't sign many players to long-term contracts, so they have NHL salary cap flexibility at the trade deadline, which means they could get some draft picks or future assets if they trade some of their players. Forwards Jared McCann (35 points; 23 goals, 12 assists in 53 games), Yanni Gourde (35 points; 13 goals, 22 assists in 53 games) and Jordan Eberle (34 points; 15 goals, 19 assists in 59 games) have been their best offensive players, and are veterans who could be built around if they remain with Seattle.
Minuses: It has been a disappointing inaugural season for the Kraken. They rank 29th in the NHL in goals against per game (3.59), 30th in goals scored per game (2.57), 29th on the power play (15.2 percent) and 27th on the penalty kill (74.9 percent). They can't seem to get any momentum going, having not won consecutive games since Jan. 17 and 20 and have accomplished that four times this season. Losing forward Brandon Tanev for the season with an ACL injury that required surgery Dec. 30 really hurt them. He was a physical presence and a leader for them on and off the ice.