By: Brandon Murdock | Follow me on Twitter/X @Brandonmurdoc11
The Boston Bruins return to home ice to take on a very tough Minnesota Wild team that currently sits third in the tough Central Division. The Bruins, who currently hold the top Wild-Card spot in a crowded Eastern Conference, will look to avenge a 6-2 road loss to Minnesota back in December.
This matchup is part of a tough four-game stretch that sees the Bruins playing four playoff teams. With the team currently just two points ahead of the Ottawa Senators, who are on the outside of the playoffs looking in, and only 10 games remaining in the regular season, games like this on home ice are vital to win.
Current Form
The Bruins are coming into this game after splitting their back-to-back with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres mid-week. The team followed up their disappointing loss to the Leafs at home with a thrilling 4-3 overtime win over the Atlantic Division-leading Sabres.
Boston heads into this game after getting points in eight of their last 10 games. Over this stretch, Jeremy Swayman and David Pastrnak have been incredible. Swayman has at times been the best player on the ice, and Pastrnak has 16 points in that span.
Keys to the Game
The Other Guys Need to Step Up: You know what you are going to get out of the likes of Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, and Charlie McAvoy. But to compete with and ultimately beat playoff-level teams, you need all hands on deck. I’m looking at Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha to keep their hot streaks going tonight and make an impact. Zacha is coming off scoring the game-winning goal against Buffalo.
The pair combined for four points against Toronto and Buffalo, and their success adds a layer of depth scoring that the team could desperately use. Fraser Minten, who will surely be skating on the first line again, also needs to keep up his play, as he has been a big part of the Pasta domination. With a Wild defense that has the likes of Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber, you need more than one threat to score.
Penalty-Kill Needs to Perform: The penalty kill has struggled over the last two games, allowing three power-play goals. Minnesota comes into this game with the third-ranked man-advantage in the league with a 24.9% success rate. With the talent they have, names such as Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Hughes, this team is loaded offensively, and special teams could be a game-changer.
Strong Start From Swayman: This one seems obvious, but as mentioned before, this Wild team has a lot of offense. They rank seventh in shots per game at 29.4 and 12th in the league in goals per game at 3.22. Over the last month, the Bruins have gone as Swayman has gone, and he has carried them for a while. Swayman has kept this team in games they probably shouldn’t have been, and will certainly need to do so again in this game.
With things so close in the Eastern Conference standings, a win in this one could give the Bruins valuable momentum down the stretch. Especially with all the teams the Bruins are fighting for a Wild Card spot, playing tonight against the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, and New York Islanders.
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