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Judging by the Boston Bruins’ recent form, fans in Seattle might get ready for some bonus hockey Monday night at Climate Pledge Arena.
The Bruins, who entered the week tied for first place in the Eastern Conference with the New York Rangers, have worked overtime in each of their past five games and six of their past seven.
The only game during that stretch that was decided in regulation came Feb. 15 in Boston, a 4-1 loss to the Kraken. Massachusetts natives Matty Beniers (goal, two assists) and Joey Daccord (36 saves) led the way for Seattle that night.
According to the NHL’s stats department, only once before in the Bruins’ 100-year history had they played five consecutive OT games. That was in January 1932, with four of those ending in ties as the league didn’t yet employ sudden death.
The Bruins are 1-0-2 on their four-game Western swing, which concludes in Seattle.
The Bruins blew a two-goal lead entering the third period Saturday in Vancouver and the Canucks scored a power-play goal in overtime to prevail 3-2 after Boston was whistled for having too many men on the ice.
“It’s a game you should close out,” said Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, whose team allowed two goals in the last 7:11 of regulation, including the tying tally with 1:11 and the Canucks’ goalie pulled for an extra attacker. “I don’t like how we sat back and we had some costly mistakes that are mental-awareness breakdowns.”
That came after a 6-5 overtime victory Wednesday — in which the Bruins gave up a three-goal lead — and a 3-2 OT loss Thursday in Calgary.
“Down the stretch good teams find ways to finish up those games, and we consider ourselves a good team,” Bruins forward Danton Heinen said. “So, we definitely put pressure on ourselves to close those out, and that’s disappointing, but put it behind us and learn from it.”
The Kraken feel much the same way after a 5-2 loss Saturday against visiting Minnesota snapped their four-game point streak (3-0-1).
That left the Kraken in sixth place in the Western Conference’s wild-card chase, five points out of the second and final berth.
“I don’t think we should be frustrated, I think we should be pretty upset with ourselves,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “There’s moments in the game that are game-changing moments that two nights ago (in a 5-2 win against visiting Vancouver), we met every one of those moments. (Saturday), we didn’t meet very many of them.”
Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn scored on the game’s opening shift before Minnesota scored five in a row, including a pair on the power play.
“Not a whole lot to take away from it,” Dunn said. “Maybe just remember how much it sucks to lose. Being outworked in our own building — that’s not what any of us deserve for each other in this dressing room.
“It’s a big loss right now. We know these points are important.”
Daccord was pulled from a game for the first time in his 51 NHL starts after allowing four goals on 13 shots.
“This is not on him,” said Hakstol, “but just like everybody else, he’s going to have to address his own performance, shake it off and be ready to go for the next one.”
–Field Level Media
