SEATTLE — After a Charlie McAvoy turnover in Thursday’s first period, Shane Wright gave the puck to Jaden Schwartz below the goal line. Joonas Korpisalo dropped into reverse vertical-horizontal (RVH), just as every NHL goalie would do in that situation.
In a goalie’s toolbox, RVH is the go-to move to seal the strong-side post on bad-angle opportunities. Korpisalo tucked his right shin into the post. He leaned in with his right shoulder. He placed his paddle down to take away anything on the ice. Schwartz did not have much to shoot at.
RVH, however, comes with one downside: a slice of daylight between the post and the goalie’s head. It is miniscule. But smart and talented NHL shooters know it’s there, and are good enough to hit it.
Schwartz drained his chance — off the backhand, no less. He gave the Seattle Kraken a 2-0 lead at 5:12 of the first period. It was the deciding goal in the Boston Bruins’ 5-1 loss. The Bruins have been outscored by a 13-2 margin in the first two games of a five-stop trip.
hey @espn can we submit this for Top 10 consideration bc 🤯 pic.twitter.com/E19i5X1rML
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 13, 2024
“Guys are really good at it nowadays,” Korpisalo said. “There’s a couple places you can shoot. They know it. My job is to seal those.”
If Korpisalo could have done it over, he would not have been as aggressive on Schwartz. Had he leaned back a hair, perhaps his head would have been in a spot to occupy the opening.
“That was a great move by him,” Korpisalo said. “But I overplayed it a little bit. Opened up a little hole next to my ear. He was good enough to put it in. End of the day, can’t let him score right there. But it happens.”
The problem wasn’t just that Schwartz exploited RVH’s soft spot. He scored just two seconds after Tyler Johnson stepped out of the box after an offensive-zone tripping penalty. Johnson, a healthy scratch for the five previous games, was in for Marc McLaughlin. The Kraken were practically still on the power play.
Johnson’s infraction compounded the high-sticking double minor David Pastrnak took on the opening shift. The No. 1 right wing carved open Jamie Oleksiak in the offensive zone. Six seconds into the four-minute power play, Oliver Bjorkstrand deflected a Matty Beniers shot through Korpisalo’s pads.
So just as the Bruins were clearing their throats, they were down by two goals. It is no way to play.
“It’s the first shift of the game,” interim coach Joe Sacco said of Pastrnak’s undisciplined stickwork. “It’s a four-minute. Then right after that, we’re able to kill the second one off. Then we take another penalty in the offensive zone. Those aren’t good penalties. So you’re chasing the game again. It’s hard to do in this league.”
The Bruins got back into it in the second period. After a Johnny Beecher shot slipped past Philipp Grubauer, Brandon Montour jumped on the puck before it crossed the line. Montour was called for falling on the puck in the crease. The Bruins were given a penalty shot. Brad Marchand raised his hand high. The captain attacked Grubauer at full speed, then backed off late and tucked an off-speed backhander through the goalie, making it a 2-1 game.
“I like to have a move in my head,” Marchand said. “Kind of stick to it, regardless of whether it’s open or not.”
But the Kraken punched back when Vince Dunn swatted in a puck that had bounced off McAvoy. The Kraken made it a 4-1 game at 9:18 of the second when Bjorkstrand punched another one in. The Kraken added two garbage-time goals in the third. The Bruins finished the game without Elias Lindholm, who was limited to three second-period shifts because of an upper-body injury.
The Bruins had their looks in the first two periods. They outshot the Kraken through 40 minutes, 25-14. Grubauer was coughing up rebounds. But the Bruins didn’t sink their shots.
“Just better finish,” Sacco said of what his team needs. “At times, we had good net-front presence. We took away the goaltender’s eyes. At times we didn’t. You’re not always going to get in front. We had some inner-slot looks, which I liked. There were things in the game that we did well. Hopefully they start going in.”
(Photo of Joonas Korpisalo in Seattle: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
