The Boston Bruins will close out their four-game road trip Monday night against the Seattle Kraken.
The Boston Bruins will close out their four-game road trip Monday with a 10 p.m. puck drop against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. The game marks the second and final meeting between the teams this regular season.
The Bruins and Kraken last played Feb. 15 at TD Garden where Seattle won 4-1 thanks to a three-point performance from Matty Beniers and 36-save showing from Joey Daccord.
Boston is coming off of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks Saturday in which it gave up a two-goal lead in the third period before missing out on the extra point. The B’s have now dropped two straight, and lost six of their last eight contests. The last five Bruins’ games have gone past regulation.
“We’ve I think gotten points in 12 straight games on the road. That’s good, but a lot of times we haven’t been able to finish off games. We want to make sure we play a good 60 minutes,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said to reporters Monday.
Derek Forbort will not be in the lineup against the Kraken. Per Montgomery, the defenseman missed a team meeting. Parker Wotherspoon will slot onto the third pair on the left side with Kevin Shattenkirk in Forbort’s absence.
“Not a player tonight,” Montgomery said of Forbort. “He missed a meeting today. That’s just our standard here at the Bruins. Just like ‘JD’ earlier in the year.”
Linus Ullmark will get the start in Seattle. The goaltender has a 2.72 goals against average and .914 save percentage through 28 games. Ullmark last played Thursday against the Calgary Flames and made 30 saves in the 3-2 overtime loss.
Feb 15, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Morgan Geekie (39) passes the puck past Seattle Kraken defenseman Brian Dumoulin (8) during the third period at the TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY SportsPer Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic, these were the Bruins’ lines at Monday’s morning skate:
Brad Marchand-Charlie Coyle-Anthony Richard
Jake DeBrusk-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen-Morgan Geekie-Trent Frederic
James van Riemsdyk-Jesper Boqvist-Justin Brazeau
Matt Grzelcyk-Charlie McAvoy
Mason Lohrei-Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon-Kevin Shattenkirk
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
Five things to know about the Kraken:
- Seattle is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday in which they fell to a 24-22-11 record, good for sixth place in the Pacific Division with 59 points. The Kraken have won three of their last five games.
- Jared McCann leads Seattle in both goals (25) and points (46). The forward is on the first line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle. McCann has nine points in the last five games, and nine of his goals have come on the power play – a team-leading stat.
- The Kraken’s power-play percentage ranks 17th in the league at 20.9. Their 79.0 penalty kill percentage ranks 19th in the league.
- Philipp Grubauer is expected to get the start against the Bruins. The goaltender has a 2.99 GAA and .892 SV% through 20 games. Grubauer last played Saturday against the Wild and made 18 saves after coming in for Daccord who got pulled.
- Vince Dunn is second on the team in points, and leads all defensemen with 42 (10 goals 32 assists). Dunn is skating on the first defensive pair with Adam Larsson and has three points in the last five games.
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