Bruins put an end to Wild’s franchise-best run

The top team in the NHL from the jump this season, the Bruins have spent almost the entire season being the hunted.

But Saturday’s showdown against a Wild squad riding a 14-game point streak by way of an 11-0-3 record gave Jim Montgomery’s club a chance to go on the hunt for a welcomed change, and the Bruins answered the bell with a playoff-style effort that culminated with a 5-2 victory for the Black and Gold.

• In an 0-1 hole thanks to Marcus Johansson’s game-opening marker, scored at the 9:45 mark of the opening frame, the Bruins made sure to knot things up before the first intermission by way of a a Jake DeBrusk rip through the Wild’s Filip Gustavsson with just 1:22 remaining in the period.

  The goal was DeBrusk’s second of the road trip, and good for his 21st of the campaign.

• Makes it look like a piece of 🍰, that Jake. pic.twitter.com/R3e8OfYvHK

  — x - Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 18, 2023

• With the game knotted up at 1-1, the Bruins grabbed their first lead of the afternoon when David Pastrnak scored his first power-play goal since Jan. 22, and put the Bruins on the board with the road trip’s first goal on the man advantage after what was an 0-for-9 start.

  Pastrnak’s tally was also his 47th of the season, putting him just a single goal away from matching his career-high of 48, which was set before the COVID-19 pandemic paused and ultimately canceled the rest of the 2019-20 regular season season.

• Lunch is served saucy 🍝 pic.twitter.com/J0bOx7PKqb

  — x - Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 18, 2023

• A David Krejci pushed Boston’s edge to two, and the multi-goal lead from the B’s really put a spotlight on what was a hot day at the office for the Bruins’ video team, who went 2-for-2 on challenging would-be Wild goals.

  Boston’s first successful challenge came in the first period, and on what would’ve been a Matt Dumba goal had Connor Dewar not been over the Boston blue line ahead of the puck.

  Their second challenge was even better, honestly, as it negated a Matt Boldy goal that would’ve knotted the Bruins and Wild back up, and just moments after the Pastrnak goal that gave the B’s their first lead of the day.

  With the wins, the Bruins improved to 5-0 on Bruins-initiated challenges this season.

  In the third, a power-play goal from Oskar Sundqvist would bring the Wild back within one, but the Bruins got their insurance marker from Patrice Bergeron with 7:38 remaining in the third period, while Trent Frederic added an empty-net goal for the cherry on the top.

  Frederic’s goal extended his own personal goal streak to three games, which is now his longest goal streak of his pro career, and his longest scoring streak since a four-game goal streak at Wisconsin in Jan. 2018.

• Trent Frederic has goals in three straight games for the first time since a four-game goal streak in his final season at Wisconsin (Jan. 13 - Jan. 26, 2018).

  — Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) March 18, 2023

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  Mar 18, 2023; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Boston Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark (35) stops Minnesota Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek (14) during the second period at Xcel Energy Center. (Nick Wosika/USA TODAY Sports)

• In goal, Linus Ullmark stopped 29-of-31 shots for his 34th victory of the season. Ullmark’s 34 wins are now tied for the 10th-most by any B’s netminder in a single season, and he is now just six wins away from matching Pete Peeters (4o wins in 1982-83) for the most in a single season.

  On the backend, the Bruins played this game without Derek Forbort after the 6-foot-3 penalty-killing specialist was hobbled by a shot off the right ankle in Thursday’s win over the Jets.

  With Forbort on the shelf, Connor Clifton jumped back into the B’s lineup and finished with four hits, two blocks, and a plus-2 rating in over 19 minutes of time on ice.

  The Bruins will conclude this road trip Sunday afternoon against the Sabres.