BSJ Game Report: Wild 3, Bruins 2 - Minnesota lands knockout punch in scrappy tilt at TD Garden

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

SHORT SHIFT

In an ugly barfight of a game that featured 50 penalty minutes and four total fighting majors, it was the Wild that delivered a knockout blow — burying two power-play goals and snapping Boston’s three-game winning streak via a 3-2 victory at TD Garden.

Taylor Hall and Brad Marchand both scored for the Bruins, who fall to 17-11-2 on the season. Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 of the 30 shots that came his way in the loss.

It was a chippy opening 20 minutes of action, with both the Bruins and Wild earning two-minute stretches of 5-on-3 hockey.

Boston managed to finally take advantage of their extended power play 6:35 into regulation, with Hall blasting a puck that sailed through Kaapo Kahkonen’s five hole to put Boston ahead.  

However, the Wild had a bit more success on their 5-on-3 bid later in the first — beating Swayman twice to take a 2-1 lead off of tallies from Kirill Kaprizov and Nico Sturm.

While the B’s negated yet another Wild power play midway through the second period after Trent Frederic was whistled for boarding Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota still managed to get on the board shortly after the game reverted to 5v5 action — with Millis native Matt Boldy scoring his first career goal in his NHL debut.

The BC product’s second-period strike proved to be the game winner. Marchand cut into Boston’s deficit with a power-play snipe at 15:35 in the second, but Boston could not push across the equalizer over the final 20 minutes of play despite outshooting Minnesota by a 17-6 margin in the third.

TWO UP

Taylor Hall: Don’t look now, but it seems like Hall is really starting to heat up. With his power-play tally, Hall is now in the midst of a four-game point streak and has seven points over his last eight games. Along with his power-play goal, Hall was flying up and down the ice — with the veteran winger nearly connecting on a couple of rush chances with David Pastrnak. After a bit of a rough patch at the start of this latest lineup reshuffle, that second line seems like it's starting to gain a bit more traction. 

Oskar Steen: 5v5 reps were hard to come by in a game like this, but the small sample size that the third line put together on Thursday was pretty encouraging once again. In their 5:49 of 5v5 ice time, Boston held a 6-0 lead in shots on goal. Jake DeBrusk could be back in the fold over the next couple of days, but I don’t know if you can bump Steen out of that spot in the lineup. He had a pretty sweet set-up of a Coyle attempt down low in the third – but the puck couldn’t settle.

THREE DOWN

Penalty kill: Granted, they were tasked with negating eight Minnesota power plays on the night, including a two-minute, 5-on-3 sequence — but a few failed clears and shoddy execution doomed the B’s in a game that was largely decided by special teams. 

Trent Frederic: Yep, he beat the snot out of Dmitry Kulikov in that one scrap, but the B’s can’t have Frederic continually getting ushered to the sin bin, especially when it comes to undisciplined sequences. 

Refs: I try to not harp too much on officiating, and I’m not making this argument with the intention of saying that the B’s had the screws put to them. Both teams converted on their chances on the power play, so alas. But in terms of the product on the ice, ooooooooooooof: this was choppy. I gotta say, when I’m going to tune in to a nationally televised game, the star I want to watch is Chris Rooney.

LOOSE PUCKS

Cassidy reunites Bergeron line

Well, it was all but inevitable. And no, I’m not talking about Tuukka Rask’s return.

With Boston trailing by a goal in the third period, Bruce Cassidy reunited the usual suspects in Patrice Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak in search of a spark. 

Alas, it did not work out — with Boston getting outshot, 2-1, in that top line’s limited 5v5 ice time together. While it was an expected in-game shuffle given the score, thankfully it seems as though Boston is committed to going back to the Marchand-Bergeron-Smith line for Saturday’s game in Tampa — which seems like the right call. 

Need to get some balanced scoring. 

Another missed chance to best a playoff opponent

If there was one thing that marred some of the good tidings from Boston’s latest three-game win streak and that surge of secondary-scoring production — it was the fact that the B’s did it against a group of lesser foes in Buffalo, Detroit and New Jersey. 

Ho hum. 

Yes, the Bruins were without guys like Charlie McAvoy, Tomas Nosek and Jake DeBrusk on Thursday night — but this sure seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally secure a statement win against another team in the playoff picture, especially on home ice. 

After all, the Wild entered this game in the midst of a four-game losing streak and were also missing regulars like Joel Eriksson Ek, Jared Spurgeon and others.

But alas, Boston once again came up short — and the road is only going to get tougher moving forward once the B’s hop on a plane to Tampa and Washington. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

Welcome to the show, kid.

PARTING THOUGHTS

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will now head out on the road for a two-game set, starting with an anticipated heavyweight bout with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.