Penalties, Late Second Period Collapse Cost Bruins in Seattle

Penalty trouble and a late second period collapse cost the Boston Bruins (22-19-2) on Tuesday night, as the Seattle Kraken (20-14-7) capitalized on three power plays in a 7-4 win at the Climate Pledge Arena. 

Undisciplined play haunted Boston yet again. The Bruins, the NHL’s most penalized team (220 penalties taken), handed Seattle four power play opportunities, and the Kraken converted on three of them. 

David Pastrnak (19) scored twice and now has seven points over the last three games. Mason Lohrei (3) and Viktor Arvidsson (8) scored during a late third period push, but the Bruins did not have enough to stay in the win column on Tuesday. 

Jeremy Swayman started in goal for the Bruins, his 12th start in the last 14 games. He made 20 saves on 26 shots faced.

The Bruins welcomed Tanner Jeannot and Henri Jokiharju back to the lineup. Before the game, Jokiharju was activated to the roster and Hampus Lindholm was placed on the injured reserve.

Seattle had a two-man advantage nine minutes into the game. Nikita Zadorov took a penalty, which was followed up with a Jeremy Swayman trip on Jordan Eberle. It took Seattle ten seconds to capitalize on the five-on-three, and fittingly, Eberle scored on Swayman and gave the Kraken their first lead of the night. 

Despite dropping the first goal, the Bruins responded, and it started with Fraser Minten disrupting a Matty Beniers’ zone entry. From the defensive zone circle, Nikita Zadorov lasered the puck off the far end boards. Pastrnak broke into the offensive zone, met the puck, and connected up high on Joey Daccord. 

The Bruins and Kraken skated into the first intermission tied at one.

Boston’s third line started the second period with a substantial shift. Then, Jonathan Aspirot was caught reaching for the puck, and the Kraken pushed down the ice on an odd-man rush. Berkly Catton steered a shot on Jeremy Swayman and beat him; the puck pushed through his equipment and into the net. For Catton, that was his first NHL goal.

The Bruins were not out of this one yet. A few minutes later, David Pastrnak dropped the puck to Charlie McAvoy. McAvoy wheeled around the offensive zone and played a cross-ice pass back to Pastrnak. He connected on the wide open frame for his second of the night. 

All of a sudden, the game started to slip away from Boston late in the second period. Mason Lohrei failed to clear the puck from behind Swayman’s net, allowing Tye Kartye to set up Ben Meyers for a one-timer. Meyers’ goal restored Seattle’s lead. 

Then, Seattle was on a power play to end the second period. With 0.4 seconds remaining in the middle frame, Jared McCann ripped a slapshot by Swayman to give Seattle a two-goal lead heading into the third.

For the second time in the night, the Bruins went on the power play. At the same time, Marco Sturm used his timeout, only 1:49 into the third. It proved to be unsuccessful as the Bruins could not generate a goal on the ensuing man-advantage.

Kaapo Kakko buried a feed from Frederick Gaudreau at the 10:21 mark of the third period. Then, for good measure, Berkly Catton scored his second career NHL goal to extend Seattle’s lead to 6-2.

With just over five minutes to go in the third period, Mason Lohrei provided a sign of life from the Bruins, one they had been searching for all period. Lohrei directed a shot through a pile-up in front of Joey Daccord, and it got through and landed in the net. 

Viktor Arvidsson followed up, and did so on the power play. He scored in the net-front to get the Bruins within two and gave Boston brief momentum for another push. 

Kaapo Kakko scored the empty net goal to finally wrap up the night with a 7-4 win.

There is little time to reset for the Boston Bruins (22-19-2). The black and gold will host the Calgary Flames (18-20-4) on Thursday night at the TD Garden. Discipline will be a focus after penalties again dictated the outcome, as they did in Boston’s previous meeting with Calgary.