On paper, the Wild were always going to struggle in this particular game against the Boston Bruins.
In a matchup with the NHL’s best team, the Wild were without their best player (Kirill Kaprizov), arguably their best defenseman (Jonas Brodin), a top pair defenseman (Jake Middleton), and their alternate captain (Marcus Foligno), among others.
In the end, that proved too much to overcome as the Wild fell 5-2 to the Bruins on Saturday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center. That snapped their franchise-best point streak at 14 games.
No doubt the most frustrating part of the game is that that Wild probably felt they deserved a better fate. Not only did they battle tooth and nail for 60 minutes, they had a pair of goals wiped off the board on offside calls. That overshadowed an otherwise impressive effort given the circumstances.
After an aggressive start to the game, Marcus Johansson made it 1-0 in favor of the Wild, finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence. He started the rush into the offensive zone, then dished to Joel Eriksson, who quickly passed to Matt Boldy, before the puck wound up back on Johansson’s stick in front.
It looked like the Wild had added to their lead later in the first period as Matt Dumba pinched up in the play and hammered home a feed from Johansson in the slot. Upon further review, the officials waved the goal off, ruling that Connor Dewar was offside.
That left the door open and Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk eventually tied the score at 1-1 late in the first period with a shot that fluttered past Filip Gustavsson.
Things started to open up in the second period largely because the Wild couldn’t stay out of the penalty box.
It started with Jon Merrill getting called for slashing and continued with him getting called for high sticking. Naturally, Bruins winger David Pastrnak made the Wild pay, scoring on the power play to make it 2-1.
It looked like the Wild had tied the game later in the second period as Boldy willed a puck into the back of the net. Upon further review, the officials waved the goal off, ruling that Boldy was offside.
Not surprisingly, the home crowd took exception with the overturned call, showering the officials with boos from every level of the arena. That frustration grew late in the second period as Bruins center David Krejci stretched the lead to 3-1 thanks to a fortuitous bounce near the crease.
With a prime opportunity to cut into the deficit, the Wild came up empty on an extended two-man advantage after the Bruins gifted them a couple of penalties.
Though the Wild cut the deficit to 3-2 with a goal from Oskar Sundqvist early in the third period with a goal, Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron made it 4-2 with a perfectly placed shot later in the frame.
As the game wound to a close, Bruins winger Trent Frederic finalized the score at 5-2 with an empty-netter.
