Kraken Fall to Bruins on Emotional Night in Boston: 3 Takeaways from Seattle’s 4-2 Loss
The Seattle Kraken walked into TD Garden on Thursday night with a tough task ahead-second game of a back-to-back, cross-country travel, and, oh yeah, the Boston Bruins were honoring franchise legend Zdeno Chara by retiring his number. It was always going to be a charged atmosphere, and the Bruins fed off it immediately. For the Kraken, it was another night of chasing the game-something that's becoming an all-too-familiar pattern.
Let’s break down three key takeaways from Seattle’s 4-2 loss in Boston.
1. Another Early Deficit, Same Script as New Jersey
If Wednesday’s game in New Jersey felt like a warning sign, Thursday’s was the full-blown alarm. For the fifth straight game, the Kraken gave up the opening goal-and just like the night before, it came 54 seconds in. Yes, again at the 54-second mark.
This time it was Marat Khusnutdinov who got behind the defense, beating Cale Fleury wide before slipping the puck past Joey Daccord, who dropped into his butterfly too early and couldn’t recover. Daccord was serviceable, stopping 20 of 23 shots, but he didn’t come up with the big saves Seattle needed early.
The Kraken weren’t ready from puck drop, and it cost them dearly. Just three minutes later, a miscommunication between Fleury and Jaden Schwartz during a Boston rush led to another goal.
Schwartz tried to break up a pass from Viktor Arvidsson but ended up deflecting the puck right into his own net. Suddenly, it was 2-0 Bruins, and the Kraken were digging out of a hole once again.
Credit to head coach Lane Lambert-he didn’t wait to make a move. He called a timeout right after the second goal and delivered an animated message to his team.
From that point on, Seattle settled in and actually controlled much of the first period. But the damage was already done.
Seattle did manage to respond with a power-play goal just over seven minutes in, five seconds into the man advantage-eerily similar to the previous night when Jared McCann scored five seconds into a power play in New Jersey. But unlike Wednesday, the Kraken had already allowed a second goal before getting on the board.
That made all the difference. They were chasing from behind the entire way.
2. Power Play Delivers, But a Costly Shorty Hurts
The Kraken’s power play has quietly become one of the most efficient in the league, and it showed up again in Boston. Both of Seattle’s goals came on the man advantage, and they now sit seventh in the NHL with a 23.7% conversion rate. That’s a huge step forward for a team that struggled in this department not long ago.
The first goal was textbook execution. Chandler Stephenson won the draw, Matty Beniers moved it to Vince Dunn, and Dunn fired a cross-ice pass to McCann, who sent a shot-pass right to Stephenson at the top of the crease. Stephenson redirected it home-clean, crisp, and effective.
Later, it was Eeli Tolvanen who brought the Kraken within one. After Brandon Montour’s shot off the end boards bounced into the right circle, Tolvanen wasted no time, snapping it over Jeremy Swayman’s shoulder to make it 3-2.
But in between those two power-play markers came a backbreaker.
Early in the second period, Beniers was too casual retrieving a puck in Seattle’s zone. Instead of accelerating to create space, he tried to finesse his way out of trouble.
Mark Kastelic read it easily, picked his pocket, and scored on a breakaway for a short-handed goal. That made it 3-1 Boston and ultimately stood as the game-winner.
It was an uncharacteristic lapse for Beniers, but it was costly. In a game where the Kraken were already playing from behind, that shorty shifted momentum right back to the Bruins-and Seattle never fully recovered.
3. Montour Returns, Melanson Sent Down, Evans Scratched
The Kraken finally got healthy on the blue line with Brandon Montour returning from a hand injury that had sidelined him for a month. But getting healthy brings its own challenges-namely, roster decisions. And Seattle had to make a tough one.
Instead of sending down Ryan Winterton, the Kraken opted to reassign Jacob Melanson to AHL Coachella Valley. Melanson had been scratched Wednesday, and with Montour activated from IR, he became the odd man out.
It was a tough call either way. Both Melanson and Winterton are waiver-exempt, which makes them the easiest to move without risking losing a player. But the timing is notable-since Melanson exited the lineup, the Kraken have gone 0-1-1 and looked flat in both games.
Meanwhile, Winterton made his presence felt in Boston. After taking a big hit from Alex Steeves, he dropped the gloves for his first NHL fight, standing up for himself instead of relying on a teammate like Vince Dunn to do the job. That kind of grit doesn’t go unnoticed.
Still, the Kraken have a logjam, especially on the fourth line. The trio of Winterton, Ben Meyers, and Melanson had been one of the most effective fourth lines in the league when together. With Melanson now in the AHL, that chemistry is on hold-and the results haven’t been the same.
Also worth noting: Ryker Evans was a healthy scratch to make room for Montour. It wasn’t a surprising move-Evans has had some tough outings recently-but Fleury also struggled against Boston. Don’t be surprised if the coaching staff tweaks the lineup again Saturday in Utah as they try to salvage something from this road trip.
Final Thoughts
The Kraken are now 1-2-1 on this East Coast swing, and the last two games have followed a frustrating pattern: slow starts, early deficits, and too little, too late. The power play is humming, and there are flashes of strong play, but the margin for error is razor-thin when you’re constantly chasing the scoreboard.
Saturday offers a chance to reset and finish the trip on a high note. But if Seattle wants to stay in the playoff hunt, they need to clean up the early-game lapses-and fast.