Grubauer terrific in net, Bjorkstrand scores twice as Kraken thump Bruins

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Dec 13, 2024

Published in Hockey

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SEATTLE — Kraken 5, Bruins 1, at Climate Pledge Arena

Notable: The Seattle Kraken won for the fourth time in six games with a convincing win over the Boston Bruins and another solid performance from Philipp Grubauer in goal.

Grubauer finished with 33 saves and had arguably his best performance of the season. He looked calm in net and limited rebound chances for Boston. Grubauer’s .971 save percentage was his best of the season and highest since a 39-save shutout of Arizona last April.

Seattle jumped to a 2-0 lead inside the first 51/2 minutes. Oliver Bjorkstrand scored on the power play just 24 seconds into the game after David Pastrnak’s stick blade found Jamie Oleksiak’s mouth just 16 seconds into the first period.

Jaden Schwartz doubled the lead flipping the puck from below the goal line over the shoulder of Joonas Korpisalo, but the play was made by Shane Wright keeping the puck in the zone and finding Schwartz.

Boston’s first goal came off a wild sequence midway through the second period when Grubauer made a terrific save but the puck leaked to the goal line. Brandon Montour dived on the puck to keep it out of the net but Boston was awarded a penalty shot for covering the puck in the crease. Brad Marchand converted the penalty shot to cut the Kraken lead in half.

But Vince Dunn swatted the deflection of Matty Beniers’ shot out of midair early in the third period to regain a two-goal lead, Bjorkstrand scored a second and Jared McCann added an empty-net goal while being tackled for good measure.

Yanni Gourde was scratched after not playing the most of the third period in Tuesday’s shootout loss to Florida. Coach Dan Bylsma said Gourde was day-to-day and his injury would need to be managed.

Quotable:“Probably his best outing of the year, I would say. … Really solid, really good game from Grubi and finally we got him some run support to make that pay off,” Bylsma said.

Goal of the game: For degree of difficulty, it goes to Dunn’s midair swat. But honorable mention to Schwartz — his wasn’t easy either.

Player of the game: Grubauer has been mostly solid for three straight outings. It’s a promising sign.

On tap: The Kraken continue their run of difficult Eastern Conference opponents hosting Tampa Bay on Saturday night.