David Pastrnak and Linus Ullmark lead Bruins past Wild 5-2
Bruins
The Bruins battled an early deficit, earning a pair of critics before taking control to win.
Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) catches the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Sunday, March 18, 2023, in St. Paul, Minnesota (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs) PA
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AP) — David Pastrnak scored his 47th goal of the season and Linus Ullmark made 29 saves as the Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Saturday.
Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and Trent Frederic also scored for Boston, which has won two in a row as it seeks to surpass the record 62 wins and 132 points in a season.
Pastrnak has six goals and seven assists in his last eight games and is second in the league in goals behind Connor McDavid, who started the day with 57.
Marcus Johansson and Oskar Sundqvist, both acquired by Minnesota at the trade deadline, scored. Filip Gustavsson stopped 34 shots on the Wild’s goal.
Minnesota, which started the day one point behind Dallas in first and two points ahead of Colorado in the Central Division, hadn’t lost in regulation since Feb. 15 against the Avalanche. The Wild were 11-0-3 in their previous 14 games.
Johansson, who was acquired from Washington for a third-round draft pick, opened the scoring against the Eastern leaders midway through the first.
Minnesota appeared to take a 2-0 lead, but a Matt Dumba goal was ruled out after an offside review.
The Wild had two apparent scores withdrawn by offside critics in the game. Connor Dewar was clearly offside on Dumba’s goal and Matt Boldy was ruled offside after passing the puck entering the zone and appearing to cross the line before the puck.
DeBrusk then tied the game before the first intermission with his 21st goal of the season. Pastrnak and Krejci scored in the second period. It was Krejci’s first goal in 11 games.
The Bruins (52-11-5) had lost three of their four games before winning the last two games. They are looking to surpass the NHL record of 62 wins by the 1995-96 Red Wings and 2018-19 Lightning. They also have a chance to surpass the Montreal Canadiens’ record of 132 points in 1976-77.
Sundqvist scored for the second straight game in the third on the power play. He’s scored two goals in six games with Minnesota since being acquired for a fourth-round draft pick.
Boston entered the game with the best penalty kill in the league, killing 85.7% of their shorthanded situations.
Bergeron responded with his 25th goal of the season and Frédéric scored an empty net.
A WHOLE PAIR
Bergeron and Brad Marchand assisted on DeBrusk’s goal in the second, the 407th time in their careers that they combined on a goal. He set a new franchise record, surpassing Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge’s total. Marchand had three assists in the game.
FOLLOWING
Bruins: Complete their five-game road trip to Buffalo on Sunday.
Wild: Host from Washington on Sunday.
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