Kraken (5-6-1) vs. Bruins (5-6-1) | 2:00 p.m

First, just deal with it

The Bruins have the second-highest and strongest roster in the NHL and play a high-energy, physical game that Kraken must be able to match from the start. They also have to maintain that energy and competitiveness three times over without letting up the moment something doesn’t go their way.

In fact, the Kraken began Saturday night’s game in Ottawa aggressively against a passive-looking Senators team that had lost the night before. They got their first shot on goal in the first minute from Brandon Montour and a few goals from him, Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev.

Then grilling. The next shot came almost nine minutes later when Tanev grabbed the ball. What happened before was a fluke Ottawa goal about five minutes in when Philipp Grubauer couldn’t cover up a loose puck in his crease in an otherwise strong night for the goaltender.

The puck was ripped free and bounced home. After the goal was initially dismissed, this was overturned by a video review and the Kraken disappeared from then on.

“I didn’t like the reaction after the goal there,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “After they got the call after they scored the goal, our game faltered for a significant amount of time. And in fact, we were never able to match the speed and tempo of the game with Ottawa.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Kraken didn’t create a single dangerous scoring opportunity until scoring four in the closing stages. But at this point they were already two goals behind and still had no chance from dangerous areas with an overall score of 8:4.

Team captain Jordan Eberle pointed out that there was a lack of competitiveness in puck battles. That’s the energy aspect of the win against the Bruins that needs to be fixed.

Second: time to return home

The last time the Kraken appeared in Boston in February, they defeated the Bruins 4-1 behind strong performances from local Massachusetts products Matty Beniers and Joey Daccord. Beniers had two goals and an assist, while Daccord was nearly unbeatable, stopping 36 of 37 shots.

And they could certainly use a repeat of those performances. The two goals scored by Beniers in this game equal the total he has scored in a dozen games this season. So a big day here would certainly be a huge achievement for him and a Kraken team that has only scored one goal in the previous two competitions.

As for Daccord, he needs to prevent stoppable pucks from getting into the net. As previously mentioned, the Kraken have not always responded well to setbacks on the netminding front. They know the Bruins will have a strong showing in front of the home fans, so limiting the early damage is essential.

Third, know your enemy

So far, these are not the same Bruins as they were in the Kraken’s early expansion years – that is, the last few seasons. They dropped five of six games before knocking out Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon and hit their all-time low with Thursday’s 8-2 loss to Carolina – prompting fans to call for coach Jim Montgomery’s head.

Remember, just two seasons ago, Montgomery led the Bruins to a stunning Presidents Trophy victory with a league-record 65 wins and 135 points. Last season he scored a solid 109 points – the third time in a row that the Bruins have surpassed the century mark.

But Boston is a hockey town and the regular seasons don’t matter much. The early exit from the playoffs has increased the pressure on Montgomery. So don’t expect any disappointments for the Bruins on Sunday as they play in back-to-back games.

However, they were quite beatable in even play and showed a surprising lack of discipline at times. Starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman – who was named No. 1 when Linus Ullmark moved to Ottawa – will play Sunday and look to get his season on track after going 3-4-1 with a save percentage of .884 so far. According to MoneyPuck, he has allowed 2.2 more goals than “expected” based on shot quality – ranking him just 54th^Th of 71 goalkeepers.