Philipp Grubauer and Kailer Yamamoto give Kraken a crucial 4-3 shootout victory over the Bruins.
Seattle: With just ten days to go before the NHL trade deadline, the Seattle Kraken managed to maintain their position in the race despite having no more room for error.
Seattle’s Kailer Yamamoto scored the sole goal of the shootout, and the Kraken defeated the Boston Bruins 4-3 in the shootout with to Philipp Grubauer’s flawless 3-for-3 performance in goalkeeping after he made 29 saves on 32 shots.
The Kraken couldn’t afford to lose this game. They are out of time and their pocket is empty of mulligans. The Kraken were in risk of dropping out of the Western Conference postseason hunt after their 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. It was never going to be realistic to get even one point for making it to overtime. To demonstrate that they can stay up with the playoff chase, the squad needs to score two points in almost every game from now until the trade deadline.
Vince Dunn remarked, “Just understanding how crucial these next few weeks are,” after tying the score at 2-2 early in the third period with his third consecutive goal. “I think the Minnesota game got away from us from a whole lot of different aspects but like I said, we got to find a way to forget about those games and these two big wins against Vancouver and Boston,, that’s good for the confidence and we just need to keep rolling from here.”
After Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark made a mistake in the second period, Jordan Eberle scored his eighth goal of the month and 14th goal of the year. Dunn and Oliver Bjorkstrand both scored in the third period to force overtime. Grubauer got his second shootout victory since returning to the lineup following an injury earlier this month thanks to some huge stops against Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk, and other opponents.
“We’re in a race,” Bjorkstrand declared. As you are aware, every game is huge at the moment. Hardly has the luxury of losing a lot of games. Therefore, it is certain that we will be hungry at every game. Thus, we must play that kind of hockey if we hope to go to the playoffs.”
The Boston Bruins and New York Rangers were tied for first place in the Eastern Conference going into the evening. Boston has now lost to the Kraken twice in the past two weeks. Earlier in the home stand on Thursday, Seattle defeated the Vancouver Canucks, who are currently leading the Western Conference.
Additionally, the Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Colorado Avalanche—all of whom are in a strong position to make the playoffs—have all been defeated by the Kraken. Their ability to perform at that level and win games makes it much harder to predict how they will hold their precarious lead in the postseason race.
Seattle has a few pending free agents, such as Eberle, Alex Wennberg, Justin Schultz, and Tomáš Tatar, who could be traded in order to make room on the roster in future drafts if they are unable to stay up. That’s why the games against Boston, Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg over the next ten days are so important. There is a time limit on those potential choices.
But after defeating the Bruins, the Kraken are still alive.
“At this point in time, other than some of the head-to-head matchups that we’re going to run into, you know, it really doesn’t matter who it’s against,” Dave Hakstol, the team’s head coach, said “They have a little more weight on them because some of those will be four-point swings. However, if you consider the last few victories, the focus is more on the significance of the two points and our efforts to earn them.”
Boston took a 1-0 lead after Bruins standout David Pastrňák pounced on a chance presented by a wayward bounce. Pastrňák’s delicate shovel by Grubauer’s glove side gave Boston the lead less
Will Borgen tried to keep the puck in the Boston zone, but it was kicked off by Jesper Boqvist’s skate straight to Kevin Shattenkirk, who then swiftly found Pastrňák at the other blue line for the breakaway.
The Bruins were excellent in stifling Seattle’s offensive in the first twelve minutes of play, allowing the Kraken to muster just one shot on goal. Seattle eventually forced a long shift in the Boston end, resulting in four shots on Ullmark in under 20 seconds. Ullmark stopped all four of the shots to maintain Boston’s lead, even though they were taken from more than thirty feet away from the net.
Early in the second period, Ullmark made a huge mistake that gave the Kraken the opportunity to tie the game at one. With many clearances, Boston had mostly neutralized the Kraken’s power play, preventing Seattle from setting up shop in the offensive zone. As Ullmark attempted to clear the ball himself, there was one final dump into the attacking zone that reached the net. Rather than hitting the goal crease with a tap-in finish, his attempt at clearing the ball struck Eberle.
After Brandon Carlo cross-checked Tatar and the Bruins committed a too-man penalty that allowed Seattle to have a short 5-on-3 opportunity, the Bruins were penalized three times in the period. However, Boston’s penalty kill prevented Seattle from going up, and the Bruins tightenedHowever, Pastrňák’s Eberle trip would eventually result in the Bruins’ first power play of the evening. With 2:52 left, a snipe from the right circle beat Grubauer to equalize the score at 3-3, and it looked like Pastrňák would get his hat trick. After a video review, Charlie Coyle would be given credit for the goal.
It went into overtime after a late power play for Seattle on a high stick of Dunn by Danton Heinen failed to provide the game-winning goal.
Matty Beniers made a fantastic run toward goal, but his shot went out after bouncing off the crossbar. Grubauer blocked a breakaway attempt by DeBrusk for Boston. Despite opportunities for both teams, the game went into a shootout.
Seattle won 4-3 thanks to a combination of Yamamoto beating Ullmark to his glove side and Grubauer stopping Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, and Pastrňák.
The final two Western playoff places are presently held by the Kings (68 points) and Nashville Predators (66 points). The Calgary Flames (61 points), St. Louis Blues (62 points), Wild (62 points), and Kraken (61 points) are all chasing and in contention.
With less than two weeks until the trade deadline, the Kraken’s math is getting pretty tough, but a victory over the Bruins at least puts Seattle in the running for a little while longer.
