Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, left, Charlie McAvoy, top, and a teammate celebrate a goal by left wing Jake DeBrusk (74) against the Seattle Kraken during the third Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, in Seattle. The Bruins won 6-5. AP Photo/John Froschauer
SEATTLE — Jake DeBrusk scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:38 left in the third period and the Boston Bruins edged the Seattle Kraken 6-5 on Thursday night.
The win avenged Boston’s first regulation home loss of the season, which was a 3-0 defeat to Seattle back on Jan. 12, still the only time Boston has been shut out this year.
Seattle’s Matty Beniers scored just 40 seconds into the game, and the teams went back and forth the rest of the way.
Jaden Schwartz put Seattle ahead 5-4 at 15:50 of the third period. Brandon Carlo tied it less than 30 seconds later.
DeBrusk scored the winning goal at 18:22, with an assist from Charlie McAvoy.
“It was a good shift by our line,” DeBrusk said. “(Marchand) won a puck battle, (Patrice Bergeron) won a puck battle, he got up to the point, and I just tried to get to the net.”
“It’s simple hockey, honestly, but it seems like it’s been going that way as of late,” he said. “It’s always fun to score those goals, everyone wants to be a part of it, but I think the goals leading up to it were equally as clutch to get us in that position.”
The two teams combined for 74 shots on goal. Boston’s Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves for the Bruins and Phillip Grubauer finished with 27 for Seattle.
“It was a great hockey game,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “It really was. To me, both teams made mistakes defensively, I know we made several, but when teams are executing supporting pucks and playing well offensively, it just makes for a great brand of hockey.”
With the win, the Bruins improved to 44-8-5.
“We have a ton of experience,” said Brad Marchand, who scored for Boston. “We have an older group, which I don’t think you can ever discount. I know a lot of teams are going younger and stuff now, but the experience, you can never have enough of it. I think it shows through in times where there is a lot of intensity and pressure.”
Bergeron put Boston ahead 4-3 at 17:51 of the second period. Yanni Gourde tied it on the power play at 18:52.
David Krejci, David Pastrnak and Marchand also scored for the Bruins.
Vince Dunn and Jamie Oleksiak scored for Seattle.
“The compete level was outstanding all the way through the game,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “There was a lot of intensity in the game, there was pace, obviously a lot of back and forth, especially during the second period and then late in the hockey game.”
NOTES: Boston acquired defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway from Washington in a three-team trade Thursday for forward Craig Smith and a trio of draft picks, also acquired the rights to Russian forward prospect Andrei Svetlakov from Minnesota. … Seattle put goaltender Chris Driedger on waivers. He has yet to play in a game this season while recovering from a torn right ACL.
UP NEXT
Bruins: Play at Vancouver on Saturday.
Kraken: Host Toronto on Sunday.
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