Bruins suffer first home loss of the season — did the Kraken unlock a secret?
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By Fluto Shinzawa
1h ago
BOSTON — After the Bruins’ 2-0 loss to the Kraken, Jordan Eberle waited for Taylor Hall in the hallway between the dressing rooms. Hall emerged to give Eberle, his good friend from their time together in Edmonton, not just an embrace but a nod of respect.
The Bruins had lost their first game at TD Garden of 2022-23. The No. 2 offense in the league had been shut out for the first time this year. The Kraken had the entire game under control.
“I thought that was our most complete game of the season,” said Kraken goalie Martin Jones (27 saves). “To come in, play how we did and come out with a win in this building, that’s a big step forward for us.”
The Bruins were not going to go 41 games without a zero-point performance on home ice. Thursday was their first home show after a three-game California road trip. Such games are always difficult to play. The absence of Jake DeBrusk was clear for the first time in the four games the top-line wing has missed.
Still, the Kraken did a lot of things to silence the Bruins that other teams will be watching:
1. Seattle skated with purpose. They checked exceptionally well by using their feet to stay above the Bruins and negate their open-ice speed.
By pursuing hard in the offensive zone, the Kraken didn’t give the Bruins’ defensemen time to initiate clean, fast breakouts. When the Bruins got going, the Kraken had reinforcements in place to take away the middle of the ice.
“I think it was our back pressure,” Yanni Gourde said of how the Kraken slowed down the Bruins’ attack. “Nothing was easy coming down the ice for them. Even if they sometimes beat one guy up the middle of the ice or through our triangles, we always had someone protecting or someone tracking that puck well and preventing them from making the second play. Which is the most dangerous one.”
2. When necessary, the Kraken finished their checks on the Bruins. They did terrific work at blending speed with physicality. It was a two-pronged defensive gem: negating the Bruins’ legs early, and separating them from the puck late.
“That’s the way our team is,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “That’s the way our team plays. We tracked well tonight. We checked well in-zone. This is a hard team once they do get rolling in their offensive-zone play. You’ve really got to protect the middle and you’ve got to find your opportunities to kill plays.”
3. By forechecking furiously, the Kraken forced a turnover that led to their winning goal. Brandon Tanev smashed Brandon Carlo into the glass just as the defenseman sent a backhand pass over to Hampus Lindholm. The speed of Tanev’s arrival forced Carlo to hurry his clear. Lindholm couldn’t pull the puck off the end boards, which allowed Daniel Sprong to win a race on the right-side wall.
Sprong sent a puck wide of the net. From just in front of the goal line, Tanev got enough of the puck to deflect it past Linus Ullmark.
“It doesn’t look great, but it’s a tip from the inside,” Hakstol said. “You get a puck to the net. That’s one of the things we wanted to do — be able to get to the inside. A lot of times, it’s the only way you’re going to get an opportunity by shooting it inside. So Spronger does a really good job pulling it off the wall. Tanev’s right inside and gets a little tip. That was a big play. That’s a timely goal for us.”
4. The Kraken were stout in the neutral zone and at their blue line to deny clean entries for the Bruins.
“Just staying committed to what we wanted to do tonight,” Brandon Tanev said. “Playing hard, making things difficult for them, physicality, communication.”
5. They built a strong perimeter around Jones, even during six-on-five play. When Ullmark was pulled, the Kraken blocked four shots: two by David Pastrnak, one by Brad Marchand and one by Charlie McAvoy. Pastrnak and Hall missed the net. On the two shots that got through (one by Pastrnak, another by Matt Grzelcyk), Jones was there to make the saves.
The Kraken blocked 19 of the Bruins’ 48 attempts. The Bruins missed on 14.
“We blocked shots. We picked up sticks. We cleared pucks out,” Jones said. “That was probably the biggest thing. We were really, really strong in front of our net tonight.”
6. The Kraken didn’t need Jones to save the day. The Bruins have made other goalies work for their two points. They pumped 39 pucks on Spencer Knight in a 5-2 loss on Nov. 23, 2022. Logan Thompson saw 43 shots in the Golden Knights’ 4-3 shootout win over the Bruins on Dec. 5. Karel Vejmelka stopped 43 of 46 shots in Arizona’s 4-3 last-minute win on Dec. 9. Cam Talbot turned back 49 of 51 shots in the Bruins’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Senators on Dec. 27.
Jones was excellent. But he was not under siege.
Fluto Shinzawa is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Bruins. He has covered the team since 2006, formerly as a staff writer for The Boston Globe. Follow Fluto on Twitter @flutoshinzawa
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