Game Recap: Wild Rally in the Third, Beat Bruins 4-3
Final. 3. 70. 4. 98
In a reversal of fortunes from Monday night, the Minnesota Wild rally in the 3rd to beat the Boston Bruins 4-3
Good evening, Wild fans. After giving up 5 goals in the third frame Monday night, The Wild would rally and score 3 unanswered goals in the final twenty minutes to stun the Boston Bruins with a 4-3 win. After scratching Jonas Brodin and Erik Haula for “precautionary” reasons, the adjusted Wild lines played with desperation and tenacity in the final thirty minutes, truly earning both points. I filled up several pages of notes on this game, so let’s get to them. To begin, let’s look at the adjusted lines that took to the ice for this game.
Next: John Moore Will Have Hearing for Hit on Erik Haula
Forwards
Zach Parise – Mikael Granlund – Jason Pominville
Jason Zucker – Mikko Koivu – Charlie Coyle
Thomas Vanek – Kyle Brodziak – Nino Niederreiter
Matt Cooke – Ryan Carter – Justin Fontaine
Defenseive pairings
Marco Scandella – Nate Prosser
First Period:
Boston had the upper hand to begin the game, nearly scoring in the first minute. Niklas Backstrom was out of position for a shot by Brad Marchand. Before it could cross the goal line, Granlund got the heel of his stick on it and cleared it completely out of the crease. What a great play by Granlund to keep the Wild in the game, especially with 58+ minutes to play.
Very even period all around, with four shots on goal a side until Niederreiter opened the scoring. After Ryan Suter did a great job dumping the puck in to the zone for the Wild, Vanek picked up a loose puck off the boards and centered it for Nino, who flipped the puck home past Tuukka Rask. 1-0 Wild at 04:51. Niederreiter had great chemistry with Vanek all game. If he keeps up like this, I think he’ll eventually end up with Koivu and Vanek on a regular basis
Next: Charlie Coyle or Nino Niederreiter: The Battle for Top 6 Forward
Dumba had a really rough turnover that nearly cost the Wild in the offensive zone. The score sheet shows it as a Loui Eriksson takeaway, but it was a poor cough up by Dumba.
Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand had some really good looks for the Bruins all game and accounted for some good zone pressure by the Bruins. I think Backstrom lost sight of the puck several times during the first period and, if not for good defensive play, this would have been a much better period for the Bruins.
Justin Falk (called up today to play in place of Brodin) incidentally nailed referee Dave Lewis in the Jaw with a puck trying to clear it from the boards. Lewis left the game with a broken jaw, leaving Wes McCauley to call the game alone.
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Dennis Seidenberg took a hooking penalty on hometown boy Charlie Coyle in the offensive zone, sending the Wild to their 25th power play on the season (first of the night.) Pominville put a tremendous blast toward the net which had just a little too much pepper on it and sailed over the crossbar. Parise had the only other shot on goal in that power play.
Seth Griffith tied it up for the Bruins at 18:23. Milan Lucic and David Krejci broke open the offensive zone after Lucic knocked Falk squarely to the ice. Krejci wired a pass to Griffith who was crashing the net. From there, Griffith just tapped the puck home. 1-1 tie at 18:23.
Zucker took a tripping penalty in the final minute of play, sending the Bruins to the power play for 51 seconds. The Wild couldn’t clear the zone for the remainder of the frame, though they only allowed one shot on goal.
Very back and forth period, the Wild were lucky to escape with a tie.
Shots after one period: Minnesota Wild 13, Boston Bruins 10
Second Period:
The Bruins got about a minute of power play time to open the second. Another good penalty kill for the Wild prevented a conversion. Pominville came remarkably close twice just after the power play, but he puts a little too much power on his shots from the point. Even at 31-years-old, that guy has zip.
Griffith struck again for the Bruins at 5:23. The Wild took way too long to make a change, allowing Lucic to skate in to the offensive zone basically uncovered. Griffith cruised in front of Backstrom again and tipped home Lucic’s pass. Griffith then flew (literally) across the crease. 2-1 Bruins at 05:23. I really liked Griffith on this play, have a look.
The Wild responded with much better play than I’d seen from them on this road trip. It was defensively sound and had an air of desperation rather than mirror coverage and loose zone play.
The best play of the middle frame came thanks to Massachusetts native Charlie Coyle. Coyle picked the pocket of Reilly Smith in the Bruins defensive zone and broke free for a solo chance. Unfortunately, it was stopped by Rask, but it slowed down the Bruins for a bit. Check out the video below.
Vanek and Niederreiter had a 2-on-1 shortly thereafter. Vanek looked painfully slow, but it seemed to work as it looked like Vanek’s shot went in. After review, it showed Vanek’s shot hit the opposite goalpost before crossing the line, bouncing harmlessly out of the crease. I bet Vanek is still shaking his head. It’ll happen, folks.
The Wild allowed their second power play goal of the season to close out the frame. With Brodziak in the box for tripping, Lucic tipped in a Torey Krug shot past Backstrom’s right leg. Nobody was defending Lucic who had an open goal. 3-1 Bruins at 16:59. Not much else to report on the middle frame.
Shots after two periods: Minnesota Wild 24, Boston Bruins 20
Third Period:
Down 3-1, we need a Wild rally to salvage this road trip. Remember, coming in to tonight’s game, the Wild have not scored in the third period when trailing their opponent.
An early power play for the Wild unsurprisingly yielded nothing. Pominville is going to be the guy to break the streak though, folks. He looks so dang good on that top unit. Maybe we’re just covering it too much. The minute we stop talking about it is the minute they score.
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Puck Prose
After the power play, the Wild held long spurts of zone pressure. Rask finally yielded to the pressure after facing 5 shots in the first five minutes while the Bruins registered zero. During a long spurt of zone pressure, Parise used an aggressive fore-check to free up the puck which worked its way to Granlund. Granlund sent a cross-crease pass right back to Parise who tipped a goal home past Rask. See the header photo above for a still of Parise’s great effort. 3-2 Bruins at 04:21. Parise’s fourth goal of the year to go with Granlund’s 4th assist of the year.
The Wild rally continued a little over two minutes later as the fourth line struck again. Carter and Cooke tried to chip in a rebound from Fontaine’s initial shot. Rask never got a clear handle on it and incessant chipping by Carter and Cooke bounced the puck loose for Fontaine to put through Rask’s 5-hole. 3-3 tie at 06:34. I really loved Fontaine’s game tonight, but more on that later.
The Bruins, who were flat footed through most of the third, tried desperately to put the game away around the 9th minute. Lucic came very close, but the play was waved off thanks to goaltender interference by Griffith. Griffith took a minor for goaltender interference, but Backstrom took an embellishment penalty. 4-on-4 for two minutes became clogged play in the neutral zone that went nowhere. The Wild did not look very strong in 4-on-4 though.
Scandella put it away for the Wild with an absolute laser from the point. His slap shot from the zone ripped past Rask so fast it may have broken the sound barrier. Zucker and Coyle earned the assists. 4-3 Wild at 14:07. You have to see it to believe it.
I think you can basically call it there. The Wild iced from the defensive zone twice in a row with about three minutes left and it took killer effort from Parise to clear the zone and get fresh legs on the ice. Rask went to the bench with about 1:16 left. The Wild got pretty good at 6-on-5 play during the playoffs last year, so this went nowhere for Boston. I’m a little surprised the Wild haven’t hit an empty net yet, but It’s early and hasn’t happened much thanks to their dominant play (usually.) Game over, Wild rally to beat Bruins 4-3 in regulation.
Final Shots on Goal: Minnesota Wild 42, Boston Bruins 28
Trembley’s Take:
What an impressive Wild rally. The Bruins had yet to lose this season when leading after two goals. and were 136-7-6 all time when up by two. The Wild are now 7-1 all time at the TD garden.
The Wild can now confidently field four lines. Ryan Carter has 5 assists on the season, tied with Vanek for the most on the team. Zucker earned an assist on Scandella’s goal, putting him at 6 points (5-1) Zucker, Cooke, and Carter are a combined +9. All of that is impressive.
I can’t say enough about Fontaine. He’s slid almost effortlessly in to multiple roles and responded very well. His goal tonight showed tenacity for finishing a play, something the Wild have had a tough time with this season.
Backstrom was serviceable, although I thought he looked lost tonight.
The Wild had 71 shot attempts compared to just 57 for the Bruins. What started out as a very close game turned after the 30th minute. Vanek, Pominville, Zucker, Granlund, Parise, Suter, and Niederreiter all had Corsi for percentages at 60 or better. Only Falk, Koivu, Prosser, Carter, and Cooke had Corsi percentages below 50. That’s pretty impressive. Only Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith were above 60% for the Bruins.
The Wild need to get better on the face-off. Tonight, they were 43% overall.
The Wild pick up their 10th point on the season tonight and move to 5-3-0. The Wild take on the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, pitting my two favorite teams together. Talk to you then!