NHL Preview: Boston Bruins (51-11-5) at Minnesota Wild (39-21-8)

BOSTON BRUINS NOTES:

TODAY’S GAME

• The Bruins visit the Wild today in the 2nd and final game between these teams this season and the Bruins’ lone visit to Xcel Energy Center.
• They are 51-11-5 overall this season and they are 24-8-2 on the road … The Bruins are 23-4-2 vs Western Conference opponents.
• This is the 12th 50-win season in Bruins history … It is their second straight 50-win campaign and the most since 4 straight from 1970-71—1973-74 … The total at the 64-game mark were the fastest 50 wins in NHL history.
• The Bruins play today their 12th of 16 matinees this season (local start time 4:00 pm or earlier) … They have a 8-2-1 record in afternoon games so far.
• The Bruins play this weekend their 11th of 14 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 8-0-2 in the 1st game of those sets and are 7-3-0 in the 2nd games so far.
• The Bruins play game 4 today in Winnipeg of a 5-game road trip (1-2-0), concluding the trip in Buffalo on 3/19 … They will next return home to host Ottawa on 3/21, Montreal on 3/23 and Tampa Bay on 3/25.

RECENT GAMES:

• The Bruins are 2-3-0 in their last 5 games, with a 3-2 loss vs. Edmonton on 3/9, a 3-2 win vs. Detroit on 3/11, 5-3 loss in Detroit on 3/12, 6-3 setback in Chicago and 3-0 win in Winnipeg on 3/16 … That followed a 10-game win from 2/14-3/4 which was tied for the 5th-longest win streak in team history.
• The Bruins are 8-2-0 in their last 10 road games and are 17-4-2 in their last 23 road games, also including a 9-0-1 road point streak from 12/11-1/24 and 7-game win streak from 2/1-28.
• The Bruins are 8-2-0 in their last 10 home games.
• Boston 3 at Detroit 5 … The Bruins fell into a 4-0 deficit and Matt Grzelcyk (1-1=2 totals), Jake DeBrusk, and David Pastrnak (1-1=2 totals) attempted the comeback before falling short … Pavel Zacha had 2A … Jeremy Swayman had the loss in net … SOG: Bos 33, Det 26 … PP: 0/3 … PK: 2/3
• Boston 3 at Chicago 6 … The Bruins suffered consecutive regulation losses for the 1st time this season … Hampus Lindholm (1-1=2 totals), Trent Frederic and Pavel Zacha gave Boston a 3-2 lead, but fell to 4 unanswered … Linus Ullmark had his 8-game win streak halted … SOG: Bos 42, Chi 29 … PP: 0/2 … PK: 0/3
• Boston 3 at Winnipeg 0 … Trent Frederic (GW), Pavel Zacha and Tomas Nosek (EN) scored goals and Jeremy Swayman earned his 3rd shutout of the season in the win … SOG: Bos 24, Wpg 36 … PP: 0/3 … PK: 0/5

INJURIES (Total man-games lost in 2022-23: 94)

• Taylor Hall: Lower body (LTIR)
• Nick Foligno: Lower body (IR)

BOSTON vs MINNESOTA, LIFETIME SERIES

• The Bruins and Wild are meeting for the 30th time in their histories with the Bruins having a 13-15-0-1 record and Minnesota having a 75-70 scoring advantage in those games.
• The Bruins are 7-6-0-1 lifetime in Minnesota with a 33-31 scoring edge in those 14 contests.

FUN FACTS

• The Bruins currently have 25 players on their roster (1 IR, 1 LTIR) … 12 were drafted by the team, 7 were acquired in trade and 6 were signed as free agents.
• The Bruins play 16 matinees this season (local start time 4:00 pm or earlier) … They have a 8-2-1 record in afternoon games so far.
• The Bruins play 14 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 8-0-2 in the 1st game of those sets and are 7-3-0 in the 2nd games so far.
• The Bruins are playing game 8 of their 15-game March schedule tonight (9 hm/6 rd, 4-3-0) … They will play 7 in April (3 hm/4 rd) … They went 8-1-0 in October, 11- 2-0 in November, 9-1-4 in December, 10-3-1 in January and 9-1-0 in February.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Mar. 11: Jakub Lauko recalled from Providence/AHL on an emergency basis and returned to Providence/AHL.
Mar. 13: Jakub Lauko recalled from Providence/AHL on an emergency basis.

MINNESOTA WILD NOTES:

SERIES NOTES
GAME BROADCASTS
BOSTON BRUINS
All-Time Wild Record: 16-8-5 (7-4-3 at Xcel Energy Center, 9-4-2 at Boston)

2022-23: The Wild lost in overtime, 4-3, to the Bruins in the series-opening game (10/22) in Boston…D Jared Spurgeon (1-1=2) and RW Mats Zuccarello (0-2=2) led Minnesota with two points each…LW Matt Boldy (1-0=1) and RW Brandon Duhaime (1-0=1) also scored goals…G Marc-Andre Fleury saved 39 of 43 shots faced for the Wild…LW Taylor Hall paced Boston with three points (1-2=3)…C David Krejci (0-2=2) and RW David Pastrnak (1-1=2) also recorded multi-point games…G Linus Ullmark stopped 24 of 27 shots faced for the Bruins.

WILD LEADERS: LW Marcus Johansson leads the Wild with 17 points (7-10=17) in 29 games against Boston…LW Gustav Nyquist has 16 points (9-7=16) in 30 games…Zuccarello owns 15 points (3-12=15) in 21 games…LW Marcus Foligno (2-8=10) has 10 points in 28 games.

WILD GOALIES: Fleury is 12-9-7 with a 2.52 GAA, a .918 SV% and two shutouts in 29 games (28 starts) against the Bruins…G Filip Gustavsson has not faced Boston.

BRUINS LEADERS: Hall leads the Bruins with 21 points (8-13=21) in 27 games against the Wild…C Patrice Bergeron owns 19 points (4-15=19) in 21 contests against the Wild…LW Brad Marchand has 15 points (8-7=15) in 16 contests…D Hampus Lindholm owns 12 points (3-9=12) in 25 games…LW Nick Foligno has 12 points (6-6=12) in 23 games.

BRUINS GOALIES: Ullmark is 4-1-0 with a 2.73 GAA and a .916 SV% in five starts vs. Minnesota…G Jeremy Swayman is 0-2-0 with a 3.06 GAA and a .905 SV% in two starts.

FAST FACTS: Minnesota swept the season series in 2021-22 for the first time since 2016-17…Eight of the 14 all-time games played in Saint Paul have been decided by one goal.

INJURIES
Jonas Brodin: lower body
Brandon Duhaime: upper body
Marcus Foligno: lower body
Kirill Kaprizov: lower body
Gustav Nyquist: upper body

FINDING THEIR GROOVE
• Minnesota is first in the NHL with 28 points and a .824 point percentage since Feb. 11 (12-1-4) and is tied for first in wins.

• The Wild’s current 14-game point streak (10-0-3) is the third-longest in the NHL this season and longest in franchise history.

• Since Feb. 11, the Wild leads the NHL with a .940 team save percentage and has allowed a league-low 1.82 goals against per game.

HOME SWEET HOME
• Dating back to Nov. 19th, Minnesota is 19-5-2 at home for a .769 point percentage, the second-most wins and tied for the second-best point percentage in the NHL during that span.

• The Wild holds an active six-game point streak (5-0-1) at Xcel Energy Center.

• The team recorded a seven-game home win streak from Nov. 27 – Dec. 18, the fourth-longest home win streak in the NHL this season.

• In home games since Nov. 19, the Wild has allowed 2.04 goals per game and recorded a .928 save percentage (SV%), ranking second in the NHL in each category.

• Minnesota is tied for sixth in the NHL with 21 home victories this season and ranks sixth with a .662 home point percentage.

ON THE POWER PLAY
• The Wild has converted 27.2 percent (28 of 103) of power-play opportunities at home this season, fifth-best in the NHL.

• Since Jan. 19, Minnesota ranks tied for fifth in the NHL with 17 powerplay goals.

PENALTY KILLERS
• Recorded a streak of 27 consecutive successful penalty kills across 14 total games snapped from 2/6 to 3/2. Did not allow a power-play goal in 12 consecutive games from 2/8 – 2/28, the longest streak in the NHL this season, tied for the longest streak in franchise history and tied for the 13th-longest streak in the NHL’s Expansion Era (since 1967-68 season).

• Since Nov. 8, Minnesota is tied for eighth in the NHL with a 82.3 penalty-kill percentage (149 for 182).

LOCK-DOWN DEFENSE
• Minnesota has conceded less than two goals in 24 games this season, second-most the NHL. The Wild holds a 21-1-2 record when allowing less than two goals.

• In 42 games since Dec. 10, the Wild has posted a 2.29 GA/Gm average, the second-best mark in the NHL during that span.