Following Friday’s 5-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, the Boston Bruins have a quick turnaround against the Minnesota Wild, to whom they fell 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday.
The Boston Bruins have a lot on their minds Saturday. Just one day after getting waxed 5-1 by the Winnipeg Jets, the Bruins head just south to Saint Paul for a rematch against the Minnesota Wild.
Boston hosted the Wild on Tuesday, where a 2-1 lead entering the third period turned into a 3-2 deficit. Brad Marchand’s tying goal forced overtime with 1:06 left, but Kirill Kaprizov sealed the win for Minnesota in overtime.
The Bruins have lost four of their past five games (1-1-3), with their worst performance coming on Friday against the Jets.
“You want to be able to respond, and we need to respond tomorrow night,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said following Friday’s loss.
Time and time again, Montgomery and Bruins players have talked about getting bailed out by Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman standing on their head in net, and while that’s led to wins more than losses this season, not even Swayman could save the Bruins on Friday, despite his best efforts.
“Honestly, in that first period, the only reason why we were even close is because of ‘Sway,’ so we got to clean up a lot, for sure,” Brandon Carlo said on Friday.
Between disjointed defensive coverage at the net front and simply not showing up ready to play, as Carlo said himself, the Bruins really let one go on Friday against Winnipeg, which will make the start against Minnesota on Saturday that much more important.
After Tuesday’s loss, Montgomery pointed to the same slot and net-front area coverages (or lack thereof) being a weakness in the third period. The team recalled defenseman Ian Mitchell with on an emergency basis on Saturday, which will give them an opportunity to shake up the defense, even if just slightly.
“We’re just not closing quick enough,” Montgomery said about the effort against Minnesota. “When they went out high, I didn’t think our wings closed quick enough. Urgency probably was the biggest thing.”
If Boston wasn’t urgent before, they should be on Saturday.
Five Things to Know About The Wild:
- Kirill Kaprizov’s two goals against the Bruins on Tuesday broke a six-game goalless streak for the 26-year-old Russian. Kaprizov scored the overtime winner for the second game in a row against the Montreal Canadiens in the Wild’s 4-3 win on Thursday.
- With his three points against Montreal on Thursday, Kaprizov surpassed Mats Zuccarello (28 points in 28 games), who is injured, as the team’s leading point scorer (30 points in 31 games).
- Marc-Andre Fleury will start again for Minnesota after facing the Bruins on Tuesday. He posted 40 saves in the overtime win. Saturday will mark his 998th career game.
- The Wild called up Jacob Lucchini on an emergency basis on Thursday. The 28-year-old forward scored one goal in 11 games with the Ottawa Senators last season and is expected to make his Wild debut on Saturday.
- The Wild have the third-worst penalty kill in NHL (72.6%), which has allowed at least one power-play goal in each of the past three games.