The Bruins lost their first game of 2023 to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.
It also was Boston’s first loss on home ice in regulation since April 2022 after the Kraken played a full 60 minutes and Martin Jones stonewalled the Bruins all night in the 3-0 win for Seattle.
Even though there was some fatigue stemming from the Bruins’ trip out west, the Kraken deserve a ton of credit for how they played between their speed and not allowing Boston to make it interesting in the final five minutes with a six-on-five and two minutes of zone time.
Here are four takeaways from the Bruins’ loss to the Kraken.
Regulation loss was bound to happen
Let’s face it, the Bruins were not going to go undefeated in regulation at TD Garden. But it did take the 23rd home game to do so. It’s still impressive, but we all knew the streak would end at some point.
“It’s our first (regulation) loss at home. It’s our 23rd game of the year. I guess we’re fortunate in one way,” Montgomery told reporters after the game. “We’re not happy about how we played, and we’ll address it (Friday), we’ll regroup, and we’ll be better Saturday night.”
It was clear Boston didn’t have its legs throughout the 60 minutes of play and struggled to keep up with a fast Seattle team.
“There was guys wide open,” Montgomery told reporters. “We make a lot of plays throughout the year and we weren’t seeing those plays. We were not a second, but two seconds, late and then we were trying to force the plays which led to a lot of turnovers and them being able to transition on us and us being one and done in the offensive zone.
“… I think their speed defensively gave us a lot of problems. On the forecheck, in the neutral zone, especially in the D-zone.”
The Bruins welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs to TD Garden on Saturday — a game they can’t afford to not be 100% for.
Joona Koppanen makes NHL debut
Koppanen was recalled from Providence earlier this week to play on the fourth line. He has a big frame and while not known for his offensive prowess, can bring some size and physicality to the forward group. Koppanen logged two hits in 8:50 of ice time in his NHL debut.
“It was an awesome experience, of course,” Koppanen told reporters after the game. “Been working hard for many years now and so, kind of like a dream come true. It would be nice to win of course, but a game is still a game, so it’s nice to get that in.”
A big reason Koppanen was recalled was his ability to take faceoffs. Tomas Nosek is dealing with an injury that’s prevented him from doing so, but has not missed time due to it. The 24-year-old won 74.1% of faceoffs.
No third-period comeback this time
We have seen so many times this season the Bruins enter the third period trailing their opponent only to come back in dramatic fashion and win the game. That wasn’t the case Thursday, but there never was a moment of doubt in Montgomery’s head that the Bruins wouldn’t make the comeback.
“I don’t think at any point we were negative. I felt there was a belief the whole time that we were gonna comeback,” Montgomery told reporters. “The biggest difference I noticed from previous games was in the third period we didn’t have the charge in us, so that just tells me our batteries are low.
“… The mental fatigue, we were just a little bit lazy with our offense. We were kind of one-and-done in the offensive zone, and I think that was a credit to how fast they played defensively. Mental fatigue, not physical.”
We’ve reached the halfway point
The Bruins officially played half of their games on the 2022-23 schedule. They have a 32-5-4 record and sit atop the NHL standings.
“It’s been so fun, I think everybody in this group is having a great time,” Brandon Carlo told reporters after the game. “It’s pretty impressive what we have been able to do, but we’re keeping our focus on certain things, like we talk about with our process and we talk about focusing on the day to day and our process and that’s what got us to this point so hopefully it will continue to carry us.”
There still is plenty of season left to be played, but David Pastrnak is on pace to be the team’s first 50-goal scorer since Cam Neely reached the feat in 1993-94, Brad Marchand is playing at an elite level despite not having his game where he wants it to be and Linus Ullmark leads the league with a 1.88 goals-against average and .938 save percentage.
The Bruins are on pace to have a historic season and even with a down game against the Kraken, there’s no reason to panic or think this will become a trend.
