The Bruins made it five straight wins when they beat the Kraken on Thursday night at Climate Pledge Arena in thrilling fashion.
Boston scored the game-winning goal in the final two minutes of the third period against Seattle after Brandon Carlo potted the equalizer two minutes prior. Charlie McAvoy had yet another strong night on offense with two assists as he continues to play some of the best hockey of his career.
It was a good way to kick off the Bruins’ West Coast road trip as they improved to 44-8-5.
Here are three takeaways from Thursday’s win.
Jake DeBrusk is on fire
DeBrusk has three goals in as many games since returning from long-term injured reserve. He’s picked up right where he left off and remains on pace to have a 30-goal season. DeBrusk upped his goal total to 19 on Thursday with the game-winner.
“I think it’s just being at the right spot at the right time,” DeBrusk told reporters after the game. “It was a good shift by our line. (Brad Marchand) won a puck battle and (Patrice Bergeron) won a puck battle, and I just tried to get to the net. It’s simple hockey, honestly, but it seems to be going that way as of late. It’s fun to be scoring those goals. Everyone wants to be a part of it, but I think the goals leading up to it were just equally as clutch to put us in that position.”
David Pastrnak makes it look easy
Pastrnak absolutely undressed Adam Larsson when he made it 2-2 in the second period to up his season goal total to 42.
He continues to keep pace with Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid who has 46 goals and is well on his way to becoming the Bruins’ first 50-goal scorer since Cam Neely did so in the 1993-94 season.
Head coach Jim Montgomery told NESN’s Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley on Feb. 20 that Pastrnak was “Creative, talented. He’s an artist on the ice,” but that certainly could be applied after the night Pastrnak had Thursday.
Bruins got better Thursday night
Aside from moving to 44-8-5 on the season, the Bruins also bolstered their lineup a few hours prior to puck drop. General manager Don Sweeney swung a trade with the Capitals that sent Craig Smith and draft picks to Washington for Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway. While it hurts to lose a good locker room guy like Smith, the move was just another strong one for Sweeney and undoubtedly helped make the Bruins a stronger team.
“I think the versatility they bring in both players, for the most part, I think we’re going to put our group together and obviously play the best players, but what the matchups are and how Monty wants to use them,” Sweeney said Thursday over Zoom.”
