Bruins Celebrate Chara’s Banner Raising in Win Over Kraken

BOSTON – The Boston Bruins (27-19-2) celebrated Zdeno Chara’s number retirement, then defeated the Seattle Kraken (21-16-9) for their fifth-straight win on Thursday night at the TD Garden.

Ahead of the game, Boston honored Zdeno Chara’s No. 33 with a pregame ceremony featuring many alumni, including a shoutout to the 2011 team.

Marat Khusnutdinov (10), Viktor Arvidsson (10), Mark Kastelic (8), and David Pastrnak (20) scored the four Bruins goals on their way to a 4-2 win. 

Jeremy Swayman made 26 saves in the win. He improves to 19-11-2 on the season and extends his win streak to three.

Andrew Ference hosted the pregame ceremony for Chara, whose family raised the No. 33 banner to the roof of the TD Garden. 

Marat Khusnutdinov opened the scoring within the first minute of the game. Charlie McAvoy led him to a breakaway, and Khusnutdinov pulled it to his backhand and beat North Andover native Joey Daccord at the 54-second mark. 

Viktor Arvidsson then extended his point streak to six games (3-4–7). Pavel Zacha spun a cross-ice feed to Arvidsson, who fired it towards the goal, intending for a crashing Casey Mittelstadt. The puck instead redirected off Jaden Schwartz’s stick and slipped by Daccord.

Then, only five seconds into a Kraken power play, Jared McCann set up a feed for Chandler Stephenson to redirect behind Jeremy Swayman.

As the second period started, the Bruins found themselves shorthanded again. However, this time, the Bruins would capitalize. Mark Kastelic outworked Hingham-native Matty Beniers and sped past him for a chance on Daccord. Kastelic went to his backhand and extended the Bruins’ lead to two. 

Seattle capitalized on their third power play chance of the night; Eeli Tolvanen cashed in on the five-on-four. 

Through two periods, the Kraken had three power play opportunities. Goals were scored on all of them, with a shorthanded tally belonging to the Bruins. Boston had yet to draw a penalty, but held a 3-2 lead after 40. 

The third period was quiet on the scoring front until the very end. 

Alex Steeves and Ryan Winterton dropped their gloves after Steeves delivered a hit on the Kraken’s fourth-liner. 

The Bruins went on the power play with 64 seconds remaining. David Pastrnak potted an empty-net goal, which sealed the game for Boston.

Charlie McAvoy had an assist on Pastrnak’s goal; he finished the night with two assists, a plus-three rating, and played for 28 minutes. 

With the win, Boston has won seven of eight and finished a perfect 5-0-0 on their homestand. 

The Bruins will have Friday off so they can fly to Chicago and take on the Blackhawks (19-21-7) this weekend. They will return to the ice in Illinois on Saturday morning.