Bruins vs. Kraken 2/23/23 PREVIEW: The West Coast trip begins!

Just the Facts:

• The Time: 10pm EST
• The Place: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington
• Place to Watch: NESN, Sportsnet 360, ROOT-Northwest
• Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub
• Opposing Viewpoint: Davy Jones Locker Room

Know Your Enemy:

• The leading point getter for the Kraken is Jordan Eberle, who has 45 points in 57 games.
• Their leading goalscorer is Jared McCann, with 26 goals in 54 games.
• The Kraken have three players sitting pretty at 40 points: McCann, Matty Beniers, and Vince Dunn.
• Their goaltending has once again been a weakness, but it seems Phillipp Grubauer has gotten...beeeetter? Sure. We’ll call .900 better for him.

Game Preview:

Finally! Last long west coast road trip of the year. It’s a pity it also includes a back-to-back next week.

Anyway, the Kraken started the new year like worldbeaters and have once again come down into being merely...fine. They just recently had a pretty embarrassing shutout loss to the Sharks and are 4-5-1 in their last 10. Losing Andre Burakovsky hurt, as their offense can be quite formidable when pressed, as the Bruins learned all too well this year. Their biggest strengths are puck movement and transition attack, which has made them one of the most potent response-goal teams in the NHL this year. They’ll still give you braindead goals, but they’ll get one right back if you underestimate them, and they need these points badly. They’re tied with Edmonton right now in the standings and have been in a dogfight just to keep their playoff ambitions alive since their most recent multi-game winning streak ended.

Of course, the real news around here is whether or not the Bruins are going to have a new player in their midst by the end of the week; Boston’s still riding the high of beating Ottawa for the first time in a while (jesus christ.) and have mostly been cruising from strong victory after strong victory after beating the Stars back on the 14th. Rumor says that it’s probably Gavrikov, but money is still being worked out. It seems that the next few games might be auditions to allow the Bruins that opportunity...after which we’ll have a nice. in-depth breakdown (player and emotional) over the return.

Either way, this could end up being a fun one. Pour some coffee and put the kids to bed, it’s the first west coast contest of the trip!