SEATTLE — Jake DeBrusk’s response to being elevated onto the top line for the Boston Bruins was his first multigoal game in more than two years.
DeBrusk scored his second goal of the game 33 seconds into overtime and the Bruins beat the Seattle Kraken 3-2 on Thursday night.
“I’ve gotten some puck luck the last little bit, so it’s been trending in the right direction,” DeBrusk said. “So I was really excited.”
Boston opened a lengthy road trip with its third straight win and welcomed Brad Marchand back from suspension. DeBrusk scored off a fluky bounce in the first period and beat Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer on the short side from a tight angle on the first shot of the extra period.
DeBrusk was added to the line with Marchand and Patrice Bergeron for the first time this season ahead of Thursday’s game. His last two-goal game came on Jan. 9, 2020, against Winnipeg.
David Pastrnak scored his 28th of the season and 20th in the last 23 games early in the second period to give Boston a 2-1 lead.
Marchand returned after sitting the past six games, the result of roughing and high-sticking on Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry on Feb. 8. It was the second suspension this season for Marchand, who spoke after the morning skate on the need to stay out of trouble, knowing the punishments could be more severe going forward.
In this game, Marchand was a model citizen. He played nearly 22 minutes, had seven shots and avoided any trips to the penalty box.
“I was happy with his game,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Obviously, look at the details of it tomorrow when we go through the video part of it, but on the surface I thought he looked good.”
Boston goalie Linus Ullmark made 25 saves.
Mark Giordano and Jordan Eberle scored for Seattle. Grubauer made 36 saves, the second-most this season, and was terrific until giving up DeBrusk’s overtime goal.
Seattle has lost six straight.
“We played our (butts) off tonight for 60 minutes, bottom line. Tough way to a lose a hockey game,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “Proud of our effort.”
Seattle took a 1-0 lead on Giordano’s second short-handed goal in the last three games. Seattle spent most of the first period on the penalty kill after committing four penalties, including a four-minute double minor on Adam Larsson for high sticking.
Seattle survived being short-handed, but Boston was able to pull even on a fluky bounce. Erik Haula’s pass from behind the net deflected over the goal. Seattle’s defenseman Jeremy Lauzon tried to swat it out of midair, but didn’t make clean contact and the puck fell into the crease, and DeBrusk poked it into the net.
Lauzon was selected by Seattle from Boston in the expansion draft.
“I told him I owed him a couple of beers,” DeBrusk said. “He’s a good friend of mine.”
Boston took a 2-1 lead on Pastrnak’s one-timer off a clean cross-ice pass by Charlie McAvoy, but the Kraken caught the Bruins in a change and Eberle finished off a 3-on-1 with a backhanded flip at 13:19 of the second to pull Seattle even.
It was Eberle’s 15th of the season and just his third since Dec. 6.
“The big picture is we’ve lost six row. I mean that’s unacceptable,” Eberle said. “But we got to find a way to keep with it. … We’re playing better. We just got to find a way to play on our toes. We’ve got to be aggressive.”
MCCANN OUT
Seattle lost top scorer Jared McCann after he was placed on injured reserve on Thursday. Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said it was an upper-body injury and that he was hopeful it would be a short stint on injured reserve for the forward. McCann finished Tuesday’s loss to the Islanders. He leads Seattle with 33 points and a career-high 21 goals. McCann is one of four Seattle players on injured reserve, along with Jaden Schwartz, Brandon Tanev and Karson Kuhlman.
NOTES
Giordano has 12 career short-handed goals, most among active defensemen and seventh-most among defensemen in NHL history. … Boston improved to 5-4 in overtime games this season. Seattle is 2-5. Seattle recalled F Kole Lind from Charlotte of the AHL to take McCann’s roster spot. Lind was one of three scratches for Seattle.
UP NEXT
Kraken are at San Jose on Sunday.
