The Boston Bruins fell, 4-2, to the Minnesota Wild Wednesday night as Craig Smith scored his eighth goal in his seven games, but the B’s were unable to take care of business on the second night of a back-to-back after beating the Blackhawks in overtime Tuesday.
Minnesota got on the board first, and early. Kirill Kaprizov threw one on net at the point seven minutes into the affair, and it got by a screened Jeremy Swayman, going top shelf, to put the Wild up, 1-0.
Kaprizov would grab his second of the night less than 10 minutes later, as Mats Zuccarello, who was in the Wild’s zone, made a 100-foot-pass to Kaprizov who stayed onside and split Charlie McAvoy and Mike Reilly before walking in on a breakaway and putting another one past Swayman top shelf, which made it a two-goal deficit for Boston.
The Bruins would get one back two minutes later though, as Trent Frederic collected a puck at the hash marks that was wrapped around the boards on a zone-entry dump-in before he threw it in the slot — and Smith was right there to one-time it past Cam Talbot.
Boston would go on a power play early in the second period, and Brad Marchand capitalized, scoring his first goal since February 26. Charlie Coyle slid a cross-ice pass to Marchand, who was above the slot at the point, and he wristed one past Talbot to tie it and make it a 2-2 game. The Bruins nearly took the lead halfway through the second, as Anton Blidh found himself on a breakaway but he shot one off the crossbar, keeping it a tie game.
The Wild would take the lead right back though as nearly halfway into the third, Jordan Greenway collected a rebound in the slot and potted one just under Swayman’s extended arm to make it 3-2, Minnesota. With five seconds left in the game, David Pastrnak would turn a puck over at the blue line and Ryan Hartman would pot the empty netter to secure the victory for the Wild.
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