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The Boston Bruins scored twice in the first four minutes of the first period and never trailed, completing the sweep of a five-game homestand with a 4-2 win over the visiting Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.
Mark Kastelic’s short-handed goal at 4:40 of the second period was the eventual game-winner.
Marat Khusnutdinov, Viktor Arvidsson and David Pastrnak also scored for Boston, while Charlie McAvoy had two assists, and Jeremy Swayman made 26 saves en route to his third straight win.
Chandler Stephenson and Eeli Tolvanen lit the lamp for Seattle, which is 1-2-2 since a 10-game point streak. Massachusetts native Joey Daccord made 20 stops.
Seattle had a 28-24 advantage in shots on goal and went 2-for-4 on the power play. Eleven of Boston’s shots came in the final frame.
The Bruins rolled the energy of Hall of Fame defenseman Zdeno Chara’s pregame jersey retirement into the opening shifts and scored just 54 seconds into the game. Khusnutdinov beat a man wide on the left wing and drove to the net to backhand the first goal past Daccord.
Arvidsson doubled Boston’s lead at 3:45, taking a cross-ice pass from Pavel Zacha and letting a shot go from the left circle that bounced off the stick of a Seattle defender and into the net.
After the hosts scored on two of their first three shots, Seattle made it a 2-1 game on Stephenson’s tip-in goal just five seconds into a power play at the 7:29 mark. Jared McCann took the shot that was deflected in after a Stephenson faceoff win started the play.
Kastelic lifted the Bruins back into a two-goal early in the second, stealing the puck from Seattle’s Matty Beniers at the blue line and breaking in to sneak a short-handed goal through Daccord.
The Kraken’s power play converted again at 12:27. After Brandon Montour’s slapper bounced off the end wall, Tolvanen snuck a high shot between the crossbar and Swayman’s shoulder from the bottom of the right circle.
Swayman helped Boston withstand a late push after Daccord was pulled with 2:38 remaining.
Seattle’s advantage was broken by a Beniers holding call at 1:04 to go. Pastrnak then iced the game with an empty-net goal from center ice with 14.1 seconds left.
Bruins defenseman Andrew Peeke left the game in the first period due to a lower-body injury and did not return.
–Field Level Media
