FINAL: Kraken 4, Bruins 1 - B's put up another stinker at home and lose posession of first place

Another embarrassing home loss for the Bruins Thursday night, extending the skid to three games as they fall to the Seattle Kraken 4-1. I thought the Bruins did a better job tonight of getting good looks, leading to more chances at the goal, but could never breakthrough. Boston got off to a good start in the first period with David Pastrnak scoring his 34th goal of the season, which put the B's up 1-0.

 Jordan Eberle tied it up at one later in the period on a nice second effort in front of the net to get the puck past Jeremy Swayman. Overall, Boston looked good in the first as they outshot Seattle 16-8. 

To me, the turning point in this game was clearly in the second period when Brandon Carlo blew a tire, turning the puck over, leading to a three-on-one goal by Eeli Tolvanen to make it 2-1 Kraken. 

While that turnover appeared to be bad luck, they have been a constant issue throughout the season for Boston and it came back to bite them tonight in a big spot. Matty Beniers added in a goal for Seattle in the third to extend the deficit for the Bruins to 3-1. Beniers finished the night in his home state with a three point performance.

 Jared McCann put the cherry on top for the Kraken with an empty net goal at the 19:41 mark to make it 4-1. 

Right now the Bruins are in a bad slump during a disastrous seven-game home stand and lost possession of first place in the Atlantic Division with Florida beating Buffalo tonight. It will be hard for the Bruins to sniff first place again this season with the way they have been playing since coming out of the All-Star Break. It does not get any easier as they then have a western Canada roadtrip ahead of them after Monday. This might be the only time when you might hear the players say they are looking forward to getting out of Boston to go on the road and start fresh. Although, it will be very though playing against some very good Western Conference teams. 

The Bruins will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they welcome the Los Angeles Kings to TD Garden with face off set for 12:30 p.m. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• While it doesn't really mean anything, I thought Boston looked better tonight with better puck control and shot attempts.
• Turnovers continue to destroy this team, which has been a problem all year. Carlo's turnover in the second period wound up deciding the game. While at that point it was still only a one goal game, the mood in the arena felt like a sense of "here we go again". 
• Two players on Seattle tonight that caught my eye were goalie Joey Daccord, who finished with 36 saves, and Beniers who finished with three points on the night.

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT: 

3. David Pastrnak (one goal) 

2. Matty Beniers (one goal and two assists good for three points)

1. Joey Daccord (36 saves)

______________________________

WHO: Kraken (22-21-10) at Bruins (32-11-10)
WHEN: 7 p.m. 
WHERE: TD Garden, Boston. 
TV: NESN
RADIO: 98.5-FM The Sports Hub
LIVE BOX SCORE
ROSTERS

Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Trent Frederic
Jake DeBrusk – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
James van Riemsdyk – Morgan Geekie – Anthony Richard
Danton Heinen – Jesper Boqvist – Oskar Steen

Matt Grzelcyk – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort – Parker Wotherspoon

Swayman
Ullmark

KRAKEN

Jared McCann — Matty Beniers — Jordan Eberle

Jaden Schwartz — Alex Wennberg — Andre Burakovsky

Eeli Tolvanen — Yanni Gourde — Oliver Bjorkstrand

Tomas Tatar — Tye Kartye — Brandon Tanev

Vince Dunn — Adam Larsson

Jamie Oleksiak — Will Borgen

Ryker Evans — Justin Schultz

Joey Daccord

PREGAME NOTES

The Bruins welcome the Seattle Kraken to TD Garden on Thursday night with a face-off set for 7 p.m. Boston will look to put an end to a two-game losing streak versus Morgan Geekie's former team tonight. David Pastrnak will play tonight after missing practice on Wednesday as he underwent maintenance and Parker Wotherspoon will sub in for Kevin Shattenkirk alongside Derek Forbort on the third defensive pairing. 

The Bruins face a Seattle team that concludes a four-game road trip coming off a 2-1 shootout win Tuesday night at the New York Islanders. “Really sound checking team,” Jim Montgomery told reporters this morning. “They don't draw a lot of penalties. I think the bottom three in both categories – or top three, whichever way you look at it. And scoring chances, they’re on the good side of it and don't give up a lot. They're also not getting a lot. So, it's a team that plays the tight-checking game that doesn't give you a lot of opportunities. We're going to have to really work for our offense today and be patient,” Montgomery continued. 

The Kraken will have North Andover, Massachusetts native Joey Daccord in net where he is 15-11-9 with a 2.36 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. Boston will also be facing another Bay State native Matty Beniers, who is from Hingham. Seattle ranks 17th in the NHL on the power play at 20.6% and 21st on the penalty kill at 78.5%.