The Bruins’ first loss of the season didn’t come because they were outclassed at five-on-five. It came because Minnesota made the night count when the game tilted to special teams.
On Saturday in St. Paul, the Wild cashed in on 2 of their 3 power-play chances while Boston came up empty on three tries, and that edge ended up deciding a 4-1 Minnesota win. For the Bruins, it meant a split on their two-game road trip after a strong start to the trip.
“The 5-on-5 was good. We didn’t give them much. we did exactly what we wanted,” coach Marco Sturm told NESN. “Overall, special teams was the difference.”
Boston opened the night with one of its best shifts from the fourth line all season. Just 1:53 into the game, Connor Clifton sent a shot wide on purpose from the blue line, Mark Kastelic corralled the bounce off the end boards, and Tanner Jeannot finished the sequence by banking it in off Jesper Wallstedt’s blocker for a 1-0 lead.
The Bruins kept the pressure on through much of the first period, at one point owning a 7-0 shot edge. The chances weren’t exactly piling up in the danger zone, but Boston was the more composed team early.
Michael DiPietro, making his first start for the Bruins and his first NHL start since January 23, 2022 for Vancouver, then held the line as Minnesota started to settle in. He stopped all six shots he faced in the opening period.
The second period belonged more to the Wild, and Boston’s special teams problems began to show. The Bruins got the first power play when Ryan Hartman shot the puck out of the rink, but Minnesota answered with a goal of its own after Casey Mittelstadt was called for interference with two seconds left on the man advantage.
DiPietro tried to move a loose puck into the corner and got burned for it. Joel Eriksson Ek scooped it up, pushed it to Maxim Shabanov, and Shabanov found Kirill Kaprizov breaking in alone for the tying goal at 6:11.
Soon after, the Bruins’ penalty issues deepened. Nikita Zadorov was whistled for slashing after he knocked the stick out of Matt Boldy’s hands, collecting his career 1,000th penalty minute. On the faceoff that followed, Clifton was called for tripping after he himself went down.
“It was unfortunate. i was trying to make a play on the puck and I felt like I got tripped and I tripped (Shabanov) and it was obviously a penalty. It was pretty unfortunate,” said Clifton.
That sequence left Boston defending a 5-on-3 for 1:52, and DiPietro helped the Bruins survive it. He got a glove on a Quinn Hughes shot that glanced off him and then flashed a big glove save on Kaprizov to keep things level.
But the reprieve didn’t last. With Clifton still in the box, Minnesota won the faceoff to DiPietro’s right, worked it back to Hughes, and Hughes drifted left before snapping a high shot past DiPietro at 12:28, with just two ticks left on Clifton’s penalty.
Boston had a couple of chances to answer in the period. David Pastrnak and JJ Peterka broke in on a 2-on-1, but Pastrnak’s pass missed Peterka’s blade. Wallstedt also came up with a strong stop on James Hagens in tight.
Still, the Bruins went to the third period trailing by one for the second straight night. This time, Minnesota stretched the margin on a play that didn’t look dangerous at first. At 3:24, Jared Spurgeon fired from high on the right wing, the shot deflected off Zadorov, and it beat DiPietro shortside after catching him leaning inside.
The Wild handed Boston two more power plays in the third, but the Bruins couldn’t make them pay, with Wallstedt helping shut the door.
Kaprizov sealed it with an empty-net goal with 1:01 remaining. David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha, Boston’s top three goal scorers from last season, are still looking for their first goals of this one.
In Other News...
Bruins First Loss Exposed An Early Problem They Can't Keep Feeding
After opening the season with a spirited overtime win in Winnipeg, the Bruins ran into a much less forgiving night in their home opener against Minnesota. Boston had the kind of early lead it wanted, but the game quickly shifted once the second period got messy, with the Wild taking advantage of the Bruins discipline issues and turning a competitive start into a far tougher ask.
The larger concern for Boston is that the problems were not limited to the scoreboard. Shot selection and offensive execution were off, and in a back-to-back stretch like this, those details can decide whether a team grinds out points or hands them away. The Bruins have already shown they can win on energy and resilience, but their first loss of the season also served as a reminder that they cannot keep feeding opponents easy chances. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Hot Start Faces Its First Real Test In Net
The Bruins quick start now gets an early wrinkle in goal, with Michael DiPietro set to make his first start for Boston against the Wild. Marco Sturm made the call after DiPietro turned heads with his work in the minors and in preseason, giving the organization a chance to see how the depth chart holds up when the schedule starts to squeeze a little tighter.
Jeremy Swayman will get the night off after starting Fridays overtime win, and the rest of the lineup is expected to stay intact. For a team trying to keep momentum rolling, this is the kind of game that can say a lot about the Bruins goaltending picture without changing much else around it. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Road Trip Exposed One Encouraging Sign And One Familiar Problem
A split road trip through Winnipeg and Minnesota gave the Bruins a little of everything, including one result they could build on and another that looked far too familiar. Boston edged the Jets 4-3 in overtime before coming up short in a 4-1 loss to the Wild, and the trip still managed to produce a meaningful milestone for James Hagens, who scored his first NHL goal along the way. JJ Peterka also continued his early-season impact, adding two important goals as Boston tried to find some rhythm away from home.
The bigger concern, though, was the same one that has shadowed too many Bruins stretches already. The power play again failed to cash in, and penalties opened the door for Minnesota to score with the man advantage, undercutting a solid effort from Michael DiPietro in his first start against the Wild. For a team still sorting out its identity early in the season, the trip offered a reminder that the Bruins can create positive moments, but they still have to clean up the details that keep flipping games away from them. [Read more 🡒]