Bruins Postgame: Bruins Lose 4-1 To Kraken; Fall Out Of First

For the first time in 119 days, the Boston Bruins are not in first place in the Atlantic Division after losing to the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Thursday night.

That loss, combined with the Florida Panthers beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 for their fourth straight win of the season, left the Bruins and Panthers tied in points with 74. However, as a result of the Panthers having more regulation wins, the Panthers are in first place. The Bruins are now on a three-game winless streak and are 1-3-1 on their current seven-game homestand.

David Pastrnak scored the lone goal for the Bruins 4:54 into regulation, but after that, the Bruins got goalied by North Andover, MA native Joey Daccord, and the Kraken buckled down into the road game mode of bend but don’t break. Daccord would make 37 saves, and fellow Massachusetts native (Hingham) Matty Beniers had a goal, and two assists to lead the Kraken. Jordan Eberle, Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann also scored for the Kraken.

Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves in his second-straight loss.

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Postgame:

CLUTCH: After growing up in North Andover, MA, you can bet that Kraken goalie Joey Daccord was on a mission to beat the hometown Bruins in front of plenty of family and friends in the stands. Factor in that Daccord is the son of former Boston Bruins goalie coach Brian Daccord, and the Over 28.5 saves for Daccord was probably a great bet at DraftKings Sportsbook!

The former Cushing Academy and Arizona State goalie did have the goalie’s best friend on his side as the Boston Bruins hit the post three times. However, the unexpected No. 1 goalie for the Kraken was still brilliant, making 37 saves to earn his 16th win of the season. Daccord continues to prove that the Winter Classic MVP honor was no fluke.

DOGHOUSE: All the focus coming into this game was on the struggling powerplay for the Boston Bruins, and once again the Bruins couldn’t convert on the man advantage, going 0-for-?. However, the penalty kill also continued to struggle. After the Bruins took the lead on a David Pastrnak goal at 4:54, they allowed a Jordan Eberle powerplay goal at 9:11 that tied the game at one. That’s now 16 powerplay goals allowed for the Bruins in their last 16 games. With every point at a premium right now, the Bruins need to figure out both special teams units, or else they’ll fall even further behind the Panthers as the schedule ramps up even more.

BANGER: Both Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy and Seattle Kraken winger Tye Kartye had six hits.

UNSUNG HERO: After winning the 2023 Calder Trophy, Hingham, MA, native Matty Beniers has had a bumpy sophomore season and entered this game with just seven goals and 13 assists in 48 games. That came after a rookie season that saw him score 24 goals to go with 33 assists in 80 games. Well, maybe it was some home-cooking on Wednesday night because Beniers was buzzing and creating from start to finish. The 6-foot-2, 178-pound former University of Michigan center got the secondary assists on the first two Kraken goals and then put the Kraken up 3-1 8:36 into the third period.

NEXT UP: The Boston Bruins host the Los Angeles Kings in a 12:30 p.m. ET matinee at TD Garden.

Boston Bruins Lineup

Forwards

Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – David Pastrnak

Trent Frederic — Pavel Zacha – Jake DeBrusk

James van Riemsdyk – Morgan Geekie – Anthony Richard

Danton Heinen – Jesper Boqvist – Oskar Steen

Defensemen

Matt Grzelcyk-Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort-Parker Wotherspoon

Goalies

Jeremy Swayman

Linus Ullmark

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