BSJ Game Report: Bruins 3, Kraken 2 - Pastrnak lifts Boston past Seattle

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 3-2 win over the Kraken, complete with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

SHORT SHIFT

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Bruins managed to enter the All-Star break on a high note, with Boston holding off the Kraken en route to a 3-2 win on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

David Pastrnak scored twice and Taylor Hall added another for the Bruins, who improve to 26-14-3 on the season. Linus Ullmark stopped 25 of the 27 shots that came his way in the victory.  

After a largely uneventful opening 20 minutes, the temperature on the ice spiked early in the middle frame, with Yanni Gourde drilling a vulnerable Urho Vaakanainen into the boards and knocking him out of the contest. 

While Gourde was eventually handed a two-minute minor after the initial call for a major penalty was reduced, the Bruins answered just minutes after the Seattle forward exited the sin bin — with both Curtis Lazar and Steven Fogarty scrapping with Gourde and Jeremy Lauzon.

Once the dust settled, the Bruins built themselves a two-goal lead — with Pastrnak putting Boston on the board at 9:06 in the second off of a power-play blast.

Hall doubled Boston’s lead at 16:09, with the winger pouncing on a skittering puck in Grade-A ice and beating Chris Driedger to seemingly put the game out of reach for the low-scoring Kraken. 

Of course, that wasn’t the case — with a sleepwalking B’s team dented for two goals in the first 10 minutes of the third, with Joonas Donskoi and Mason Appleton making it a new game with their tallies.

But another trip to the power play allowed Boston to regain the lead for good — with Pastrnak blasting home his second of the night at 10:49 to cap the scoring and secure two points for Boston. 

FOUR UP

David Pastrnak: Looks like Pastrnak’s scorching scoring warpath is carrying over into February. After lighting the lamp early and often last month, Pastrnak buried his 13th and 14th goals in his last 15 games with his power-play snipes in this one.

Curtis Lazar: He may not have recorded a point on the stat sheet, but good on Lazar for standing up for one of his teammates and trying to scrap with Gourde following Vaakanainen’s injury. Whether it be that response or some lackluster play from Oskar Steen, Bruce Cassidy later handed Lazar some minutes on the third line as the game progressed.

Penalty kill: The Kraken may have a pedestrian power play, but you’re going to get high marks when you go a perfect 6-for-6 on the night. Boston took care of business in this one.

Linus Ullmark: Yes, a few bad bounces and a bad screen hampered him in the third, but good on Ullmark for bouncing back after getting yanked midgame during Sunday’s blowout loss to Dallas.

TWO DOWN

Reilly-Carlo pairing: *Sigh* … This duo is becoming a regular on this list as of late. The sequence leading to Donskoi’s tally in the third period was a frustrating trek in the D-zone, with passive play and plenty of puck watching giving Seattle a chance to get back into the game. 

The first 10 minutes of the third period: Be it lax D-zone coverage, not getting the puck deep down the other end of the ice or some bad breaks, the Bruins let what looked like a professional, easy win get away from them in a hurry. Perhaps the Bruins were already looking forward to their vacation, but the B’s can’t keep letting their foot off the gas for extended stretches — especially against much tougher opponents. 

LOOSE PUCKS 

Break comes at a great time for Bruins

It may not be the three-week break that most of the Bruins thought they were going to get when Olympics participation was still in play, but this week off sure seems like a godsend at this juncture of the 2021-22 campaign. 

Be it a guy like Brad Marchand — who is obviously still nursing a shoulder injury — another key cog in Charlie McAvoy who's taking a beating night in and night out and what I’m sure are a ton of other lineup regulars dealing with various bumps and bruises, some time off is needed for this crew.

And hopefully, this reset also lets the B’s refocus and tighten things up, because the schedule is going to get pretty brutal coming out of the break — with matchups against Pittsburgh and Carolina on the docket next week.

B’s lose Vaakanainen

Good on Lazar for sticking up for his teammate, but Gourde’s hit still knocked Vaakanainen out for the remainder of the contest — with the B’s ruling the 23-year-old defenseman out due to an upper-body injury.

Here’s hoping that this upcoming break allows Vaakanainen to get right and he’s not hampered for long — because a concussion is what largely derailed his pro-career trajectory a few years back after getting a nasty elbow from Mark Borowiecki.

PLAY OF THE GAME

QUOTE OF NOTE

"Go get some sun. Get some vitamin D." - David Pastrnak on his vacation plans. 

PARTING THOUGHTS

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will now head into the All-Star break, with the B’s next game set for Tuesday, Feb. 8 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Puck drop at TD Garden is set for 7 p.m.