Kraken lose OT heartbreaker to Bruins
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – The Seattle Kraken fell to the Boston Bruins by a score of 3-2 in overtime. The Kraken played a tough, gritty game, only for Boston’s Jacob DeBrusk to end the night just 33 seconds into the overtime period. Seattle’s losing streak extended to six games.
The main positive to take away from this contest was the Kraken played a tight, competitive game against a talented Boston team that sits at fourth in a loaded Atlantic division. With Jared McCann being placed on IR the morning of the game, and their current losing streak, Seattle easily could have laid down and been blown out. That was not the case, as the Kraken got on the board first and responded to the goal that put Boston in the lead during the second period. Alternate captain Jordan Eberle discussed the team’s play in the post-game press conference.
“We started on time. Last game, obviously we found ourselves down before we decided to start playing. They’re a good team… PK did a hell of a job, Grubi stood on his head… we would have loved to find a way to win there, and I hate to say that it’s great we got a point, you always want to win games,” Eberle reflected.
Penalties quickly became the story of the game, as Seattle committed five penalties in the opening period. The Kraken were able to turn the tables on Boston as Mark Giordano scored a shorthanded goal during one of those penalties. Seattle’s penalty kill did their job, shutting out all five of the Bruins’ penalty opportunities, but giving up these penalties shouldn’t happen in the first place. Too often this season, Seattle has bailed opponents out by committing bad penalties. In addition to giving your opponent easy opportunities, these penalties put your goaltender in tough situations. Tonight, Philipp Grubauer had a great game and was able to shut Boston out on the special teams’ chances. Grubauer would discuss the penalty kills in the post-game press conference.
“We found a way to kill those penalties off, I think that’s huge. We made a nice play, scored a goal… I think we didn’t give them as much time in our zone as we usually do. I think we did a pretty good job today of keeping them outside, back checking, not giving them too much time and space,” Grubauer would remark about the team’s defensive play.
Seattle is still a team in its inaugural year, and for the most part figuring things out. It isn’t ideal that the Kraken still look like a team learning how to play with each other, but there are several instances where they look like a solid unit. The list of teams that the Kraken have beaten include multiple that are in playoff spots. On many different occasions, the Kraken have periods where they out play their opponent. For the most part though, this team makes bad mistakes and has multiple flaws to address. The only certain thing about the Kraken it seems, is that they will hang around in games.
The Kraken head on the road to play the San Jose Sharks in their next contest. That matchup starts at 7PM PST.