Anyone seeking a preview of what playoff hockey looks like in terms of sheer atmosphere rather than execution would be hard-pressed to top Thursday night’s thriller in which the Kraken went toe-to-toe with the NHL’s finest.
Sure, there were mistakes galore in this game, but also plenty of end-to-end action featuring two teams playing up to the rather high level of their opposition. It would be the league-leading Bruins ultimately handing the plucky Kraken a 6-5 loss on a night Boston’s top skill players were just a little more efficient at capitalizing on their opportunities.
“When you play a team like Boston that’s had so much success you’re going to be ready for that,” said Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who matched his career high for goals with one of several game-tying strikes. “You get a little bit more adrenaline, a little more energy. It’s a good measuring stick for us and I think it showed out there tonight.”
Jake DeBrusk redirected a Charlie McAvoy point shot with 1:38 remaining in regulation to snap a 5-5 tie and put Boston ahead to stay.
Jaden Schwartz had appeared to put the Kraken — who enjoyed a 41-33 edge in shots — ahead for good with 4:10 to go, redirecting a Will Borgen blast from the point. But as was the case with both teams all night long in a back-and-forth slugfest, the Bruins responded just 29 seconds later with Brandon Carlo tying it to set the stage for DeBrusk’s winner.
“It was a lot of action,” Oleksiak said. “It was pretty frustrating at the end there — obviously not the result we wanted, so that sort of put a bittersweet tone on it. But I think looking back on the game the next couple of days we can take a lot of good things away.”
Much of the night was akin to a prize fight with the challenger Kraken trying to knock off the heavyweight champion Bruins, who entered on-pace for an NHL record 133-point season. The Kraken had already stunned the Bruins 3-0 in Boston six weeks ago and landed the first blow just 40 seconds into this one as Matty Beniers scored from the left circle off a 3-on-1 break.
But the Kraken failed to add to that lead despite several early point-blank chances against Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman. Boston would tie the score on a David Pastrnak goal right before the nine-minute mark and set the tone for a back-and-forth struggle in which neither side yielded an inch.
With a charged-up Climate Pledge Arena crowd of 17,141 — liberally filled with ample Bruins supporters — adding to the already-tense atmosphere, the two sides battled into the third period tied thanks to a plethora of response goals to answer the other’s tallies. Tensions brewing all game long began spilling over with under six minutes to play as Brad Marchand took some stick jabs at Oliver Bjorkstrand, who attempted unsuccessfully to wrestle the notorious Bruins pest to the ice — drawing a gathering of players clutching and jawing at one another.
“I think it was just a little taste of what playoffs are going to be,” Beniers said. “I haven’t played in the playoffs, but I know a lot of guys here have and that’s what it’s going to be like further down the road and for the games from here on out. I thought we did a good job with it. We battled back, but we just couldn’t get it done.”
Despite four goals apiece by both teams in the opening two frames, Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer and Bruins counterpart Swayman each made a series of highlight reel stops to keep things even.
The way the teams kept matching one another’s goals was what made this game akin to contender artistry at times. Vince Dunn scored a go-ahead marker early in the second period off a clean faceoff win by Alex Wennberg, only to have Pastrnak tie it just 1:06 later by single-handedly waltzing around defenseman Adam Larsson for a highlight reel goal.
Boston took its first lead of the night when Marchand scored from Grubauer’s doorstep just moments after the goalie had robbed him of a chance at point-blank range. But the boisterous Bruins’ fans in the crowd had barely settled down before hulking Kraken defenseman Oleksiak cruised up into the slot just 58 seconds later and fired one past Swayman to tie the game once more at 3-3.
The Kraken went on the power play with just over two minutes remaining in the period, but Patrice Bergeron stole the puck at the line from Dunn to start a 2-on-1 break and wound up capping the play on a pass from Marchand to give Boston back the lead. But just 1:02 later, with the Kraken still on the power play, Yanni Gourde attempted a cross-ice pass to Jordan Eberle that banked off defenseman Charlie McAvoy and into the net to make it 4-4 right before intermission.
“We were up, we’re even, we’re down, we’re up,” Gourde said. “It was a big game, a big battle. I liked the compete level. I liked that we faced up to the challenge and we didn’t back down. But there’s probably a little bit of cleanup needed.”
The fierce-pitched battle ratcheted up a notch right before the second period ended as several gatherings broke out that featured plenty of pushing and shoving after the whistle.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol felt his team needed to “clean up some detail” but couldn’t really fault the way his group battled all night.
“The compete level was outstanding all the way through the game,” Hakstol said. “I mean, there was a lot of intensity in the game. There was pace, obviously a lot of back and forth, especially during the second period and late in the hockey game.”
And the fact they positioned themselves to win it late is what Hakstol said will disappoint his group most.
“We put ourselves in the position … to go ahead late in the hockey game,” he said. “That’s the one that was a little too easy. We didn’t make them work for the tying goal on that. So, that’s the big momentum swing.”