Bad decisions and bad penalties turned what could have been a great road trip into a so-so one in the Bruins’ trip finale in Seattle on Tuesday.
The B’s dropped a 7-4 decision to the Kraken and finished the trip at 2-2-1.
It was clear that the B’s, who gave up three power-play goals, did not have their thinking caps available right off the bat but it was a fateful final two minutes in the second period, when they gave up two self-inflicted goals, that did them in.
Feeling like fewer mistakes would have translated to two vital points, coach Marco Sturm was not thrilled with his team.
“We were immature, I can tell you that,” Sturm told NESN. “(The Kraken) didn’t do anything. They went back in their zone, they stopped, they went up and down the ice and we made the mistakes. Of course, penalties hurt us again, all of them. Then all of a sudden we give up two points here where we definitely should have grabbed it today. That’s the frustrating and disappointing part.”
Adding to the at frustration was the fact that they did not not capitalize on an advantage the schedule gave them. They had two days off while Seattle played in Calgary on Monday.
“There’s no excuse to be tired. We had plenty of rest,” said David Pastrnak, who scored two goals. “We should have been the fresher team. At times, we were. But again, we made a lot of mistakes and against a team that is feeling good and everything is clicking for them right now, you can’t do that. There’s no way you win a hockey game in this league like that. We just have to be better. Felt like the first half of the game, everything they got it was from our mistakes. It just can’t happen. It’s a waste of an opportunity to close out the trip.”
The B’s will travel home Wednesday and get right back to work at the Garden with a game against the Calgary Flames on Thursday to start a five-game homestand. If they want to continue their push for a playoff spot, they desperately need to find some traction on Causeway Street because teams in the Atlantic Division are starting to create some space. The third-place Canadiens are six points ahead of the B’s. They’re still only three points out of a wild-card spot but they need to get going.
The B’s were facing the hot Kraken (7-0-1 in their previous eight) with some lineup tweaks. With Hampus Lindholm out with an undisclosed injury, Henri Jokiharju drew back in for the first time since he was injured on Nov. 28. Tanner Jeannot, who missed the previous four games, was also back and Mikey Eyssimont came out.
The new faces couldn’t prevent the same old problem. As they have so often done this year, they dug themselves a hole with back-to-back penalties in the opening period. First, NHL penalty leader Nikita Zadorov was called for neutral zone interference. Then, just eight seconds into the kill, Jeremy Swayman took an ill-advised tripping penalty on Jordan Eberle, giving the Kraken a 5-on-3 for 1:52.
The Kraken didn’t need all that time. Quickly off the draw, Eberle got his revenge when he grabbed a rebound at the side of the net and flipped an easy goal into the net at 8:50 of the first.
But the B’s killed off the second penalty and scratched back with a pretty goal before the period was out at 12:47.
From his own zone, Zadorov made a terrific indirect pass off the end boards behind the Seattle net that Pastrnak collected deep on the right wing. Just when it looked like he was going to take it around the net, Pastrnak surprised goalie Joey Daccord and slipped his 18th of the year into the shortside.
The B’s almost gave it right back when they gave up a 2-on-1 but Mason Lohrei made a nice break-up of Chandler Stephenson’s crossing pass.
The Kraken regained the lead early in the second period only to have the B’s tie it up again, before disaster struck late in the period.
On the Seattle goal, Jonathan Aspirot tried to keep an aerial puck in the offensive zone but he couldn’t corral it and the Kraken went off on an odd-man rush. In a slow developing play, it looked like the B’s had gotten back in time, but Berkly Catton scored his first career NHL goal on bad-angle shot from the bottom of the right circle that somehow found its way between Swayman’s pads at 2:48.
The B’s answer came at 6:28 and, again, it was Pastrnak. He handed the puck off to Charlie McAvoy just inside the blue line as McAvoy took it down the right wing and Pastrnak went down the left. McAvoy took it deep, almost too deep, but he was able to sneak a pass all the way through the slot for Pastrnak, who had an empty net for his 19th.
Swayman made a two great saves on Matty Beniers, one all alone in the slot and another on a break-in, and then the Fraser Minten earned the B’s first power play. They did everything but score, yet it felt like they were taking control of the game.
Then they saw the game get away from them in the final two minutes of the second period.
On the first one, Lohrei lost a battle behind the net to Tye Kartye, who fed Ben Meyers in front and he blasted it shortside past Swayman with 1:37 left in the period.
Then came the killer. Alex Steeves was called for an offensive zone slashing. It looked like they were going to get into the room down by just a goal, but Jared McCann’s slapper from well above the right circle beat both Swayman and the clock, crossing the line in the final second of the period.
For all intents and purposes, that was the game.
“(It was) compete, wherewithal, like mentally. You can’t sleep,” McAvoy said. “We talked about them going into the slot. The second goal, we do it to ourselves on a turnover. Then it comes back down the other way on the third one. Just win a battle, right? It’s not enough to be in the right spots but you’ve got to do your job when you’re there because they put everything to the slot. We have guys in good spots but we’re not ready for that. And it’s completely on us…It’s just frustrating, it really is. The last two games we had teams off back-to-backs and you’ve got to take advantage of those.”
Despite the two daggers, the B’s started the third period like they wanted and earned a quick power play but again they could not cash in against the 32nd-ranked penalty kill.
The B’s kept coming but Daccord made some excellent saves, including one on Pavel Zacha right in front of the net.
The Kraken finally snuffed out any real hope of a comeback on a Kaapo Kakko goal off a 2-on-1 at 10:21. Catton then scored his second of the night with a PP goal at 14:20 to make it a four-goal spread.
The B’s did try to make respectable. Lohrei added one on the next shift. The B’s made the Kraken sweat a little bit. Viktor Arvidsson scored a power-play goal with 2:22 left in regulation but Kakko finished it off with an empty-netter.
