Big trade strengthens Bruins' position as Cup favorites

Things continue to go right for the Boston Bruins.

Boston (45-8-5) got everything it could handle from the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night and the same against Vancouver (3-1) on Saturday night.

“It was a lot of fun, obviously it kind of went off the rails a little bit,” Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton said after the Seattle win. “We’re not used to those high-scoring games. We prevailed and came out with two points. That’s what you want.

“We’re the best third-period team in the league, so I don’t think we’re too worried when we need some goals,” Clifton continued. “We’ve got some big-time players in there, and they came through.”

Boston was anywhere from a -180 to -190 favorite in the game with the over six total goals paying out +110. The story of the game was the live betting, which like the game was back and forth all night. When Schwartz scored, the Bruins were +220 at some books, but they quickly went back down to -110 to -120 when Carlo tied the game.

“It was very much like a playoff game,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “We treated it like a playoff game coming in. The momentum swings were drastic, and I loved our composure on the bench and our willingness to go right back after them even when things didn’t go our way.”

The win Thursday night was just the icing on a busy day that saw the Bruins make a major trade. Boston acquired defenseman Dmitry Orlov and winger Garnet Hathaway from the Washington Capitals (through the Minnesota Wild). Boston gives up a first-round pick in 2023, a second-round pick in 2025, a third-round pick in 2024 and forward Craig Smith.

The Wild were involved in the trade to take on some of Orlov’s salary to make the deal work. Boston also got center Andrei Svetlakov, who currently plays for CSKA Moscow in the KHL.

Orlov was the key in this deal and gives the Bruins a top-four defenseman who plays over 20 minutes a game, can move the puck and has a lot of playoff experience. If there was an area Boston wanted to improve at before the trade deadline, it was on the blue line. Hathaway provides some additional grit on the bottom six, and both players are very good penalty killers.

The Bruins remain the favorites to win the Stanley Cup at +475. The trade should only improve those numbers when the lines are updated again.