The Bruins, who will wrap up their five-game road trip Tuesday night against the Kraken, have six members of their varsity squad headed to the Tournament of Five Rings, the men’s tournament opening Feb. 11:
⋅ Czechia: David Pastrnak (F) and Pavel Zacha (F).
⋅ United States: Charlie McAvoy (D) and Jeremy Swayman (G).
⋅ Sweden: Elias Lindholm (F).
⋅ Finland: Henri Jokiharju (D).
The Bruins selected Locmelis (6 feet, 180 pounds) with the 119th pick in the 2022 draft, the year before he began his North American hockey journey at UMass Amherst. He played two seasons for the Minutemen, rolling up 15-32–47 in 70 games prior to turning pro last spring.
Locmelis, as of Tuesday, was tied with Patrick Brown in WannaB’s goal scoring (12), trailing only Georgii Merkulov (13). Locmelis’s line of 12-9–21 ranked fifth in team scoring.
In last spring’s World Championship, won by Team USA with Swayman in net, Locmelis led Team Latvia in goals (4) and his line of 4-2–6 was second to Red Wings prospect Eduards Tralmaks (3-4–7) for points. Tralmaks, a University of Maine grad, earlier in his career played parts of three seasons at AHL Providence.
Penalties a problem
Marco Sturm, his Bruins two games into the season’s second half, has grown increasingly irritated on the subject of penalties.
He wants fewer PIMs, and all his guys give him is more … and then some.
Entering Tuesday, the Bruins led the NHL in times working shorthanded (163).
“We addressed it again today, in a little bit of a different way,” Sturm said following Monday’s workout. “I can’t [or won’t] tell you how, but again, guys should take it personal now, I think. Because they have to take ownership on those penalties.”
The top-three offenders: Nikita Zadorov (111 penalty minutes), Mark Kastelic (80), and Tanner Jeannot (39). Zadorov entered Tuesday as the league leader in PIMs, with Kastelic at No. 3. Way too much of a bad thing.
The unremitting procession to the penalty box has meant the Bruins on average this season have had to kill off four shorthanded situations per game. It has factored heavily in why the Bruins, as of Tuesday morning, trailed by an aggregate 877:49 through 42 games. Only 11 teams had spent more time in arrears.
Like most (if not all) coaches, Sturm is most perturbed by what are largely unnecessary stick infractions and penalties incurred in the offensive zone.
“They can take penalties in front of our [defensive] net,” noted Sturm, “to help [the goaltenders] out in danger situations, I have zero problem. But away from the puck, and going into battles sometimes, holding onto sticks, and when the referee is right beside them. Just got to be smarter than that.”
Zacha (24 PIMs) was a rare offender Saturday night in Vancouver. The mild-mannered, smooth-skating Czech was whistled off 21 seconds into the third period for a holding violation that was maybe all of 5 feet from Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen. Zacha went from a stick-length away from maybe putting the puck in the net to two minutes in the box.
“We’re really combative and want to play hard,” said Zacha. “But there’s also a time and place to know to do it.”
Zacha noted the importance of time and score — being careful not to be charged with infractions late in a period, especially in close games.
“A lot of the penalties are slashes or hooks,” noted Zacha, focusing on those unnecessary violations. “We have to be aware of D-zone shifts, too, once you are 40 seconds in there, that’s when we create penalties [through fatigue] for ourselves.”
A good penalty could be from a hard hit along the boards or, as Zacha noted, when trying to move an attacking forward out from the doorstep of Swayman or Joonas Korpisalo.
“But there are certain ones that we have to be more careful,” Zacha said. “If we are skating and taking the body, when we outplay the other team, we don’t take that many penalties.”
The red-hot Kraken entered the night without a regulation loss in their last nine games (8-0-1) under their first-year coach Lane Lambert (ex- of the Islanders).
Part of Seattle’s success has been limiting its time killing penalties. Entering Tuesday, the Kraken had played short 112 times. Only six clubs league-wide were better at staying out of the box.
Heavy workload
Provided he remains healthy and hot, it looks as though Swayman will start the vast majority of the games remaining — possibly as many as 35? — in the second half.
Prior to Tuesday, Swayman had appeared in 29 games (16-10-2) this season. If he were to finish with, say, 63-65 appearances, it would be sizable step up from the career-high 58 (22-29-7) he posted last season.
Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay) and Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg) were last season’s league leaders, each appearing in 63 of 82 games. As of Tuesday morning, this season’s workhorses were the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin (34) and the Flames’ Dustin Wolf (33).
“He’s on his game right now,” Sturm said of Swayman in Vancouver, where the Bruins improved to 2-1-1 on the trip. “We all feel it right how. He just gives us the big saves.”
Sturm pointed to the timely saves Swayman made against the Oilers, who are a constant threat to score with the inimitable Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
“Don’t forget, there were a couple of times they could have tied it up,” mused Sturm. “People don’t always see actually how important those saves are. He’s been really good.”
Swayman, the winner in Vancouver, turned back 32 shots. The Canucks outshot the Bruins, 34-22. Prior to puck drop here, the Bruins had been outshot in five of their last six games, underscoring the need for top-notch goaltending.
“I just want to focus on one game at a time,” said Swayman, asked what the increased workload of late has meant to his game, “and make sure I maintain my body and give my team every chance.”
It’s “good to get games,” added Swayman, particularly in a season in which practice time is so limited. Case in point: The Bruins were off ice all day Sunday and will be again Wednesday, much of which will be spent in the air back to Boston.
“So you’ve got to make sure you are dialed in,” Swayman said. “No matter how much rest you get, or not. It’s why we are pros. We have to put our bodies in good situations and be able to perform every night.”
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.