On Zdeno Chara's big night, Bruins play their part in win against Kraken

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald on Jan 15, 2026

Published in Hockey

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BOSTON — For the first time in their five-game homestand, the Bruins were not the better team on the ice. But there was a script already written for this evening, and the B’s were able to follow it.

On the night that Zdeno Chara’s No. 33 was raised to the TD Garden rafters, the B’s took four penalties and were gashed for two power-play tallies, but they road a quick start to a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken, an outcome that was in doubt until David Pastrnak finished it off with an empty-netter on Thursday night.

Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves in the victory to let the B’s sweep the homestand.

After the Chara ceremony, the Bruins sprinted out of the gate, taking a 2-0 lead just 3:45 into the game.

Marat Khusnutdinov cashed in just 54 seconds in with his 10th goal of the season. Taking a feed from Charlie McAvoy, he swooped down his off wing, cut across the crease and then tucked it past goalie Joey Daccord.

Viktor Arvidsson doubled the lead less than three minutes later. The shot-happy Arvidsson was actually trying to pass it to linemate Casey Mittelstadt for a tap-in but his feed attempt bounced off a Seattle defender and past Daccord for Arvidsson’s 10th.

After a brutal December (0-5-5) that saw them almost fall out of the Western Conference playoff race, the Kraken, the last team to beat the B’s at the end of the last road trip, have suddenly become a formidable opponent. As such, they pushed back, and the B’s helped them along.

With Jonathan Aspirot in the box for holding, Chandler Stephenson redirected a Jared McCann shot from the low slot past Swayman and the lead was halved.

The B’s were able to take the advantage into the first break, but they were lucky to do so. The Kraken held an 11-6 shot advantage and they owned the second half of the first period.

Tempting fate again early in the second period, Tanner Jeannot was called for a slash of the stick in the offensive zone.

But on the kill, the B’s struck on a great individual play by Mark Kastelic. The rugged forward stripped Matty Beniers of the puck high in the Seattle zone and then beat Daccord with a backhander. It was Kastelic’s first career short-handed goal and represented career highs in goals (8) and points (15).

The B’s were not out of the woods, though.

They had already lost Andrew Peeke (lower body) when another regular penalty killer, Nikita Zadorov, took a slashing penalty on Brandon Montour. The B’s had killed off most of the infraction before a rebound came out to Eeli Tolvanen in the right circle and the left-shot forward was somehow able to contort his body enough to snap off a roof shot past Swayman and pull Seattle to within a goal again.

That’s how it went into the third.

After killing off their fourth penalty of the game early in the third, the B’s got their first PP chance at 6:03 when Montour slammed Khusnutdinov to the ice. Facing the 32nd-ranked penalty kill, the B’s did everything but score.

Seattle pulled Daccord with 2:38 left in regulation. After numerous chances, McAvoy skated the puck out of the zone and was hauled down for a Kraken penalty with 1:04 left in the third. And with 14.1 seconds, Pastrnak finally ended it with an empty-netter, his 20th goal of the season.