Bruins Notes: Torey Krug Gives His Assessment Of OT Winner Vs. Wild

You really couldn’t have asked for a better first game back from Torey Krug.

The Boston Bruins defenseman made his return to action Saturday night after a five-game absence due to an upper-body injury. After David Krejci erased a two-goal deficit late in the third period, it was Krug who gave the Bruins a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Wild, scoring the winner 2:41 into overtime.

Krug received the puck in the defensive zone and held it near the end line. Once the other five skaters on the ice were at the other end, Krug dashed forward. Minnesota did a horrendous job marking the blueliner, and he was able to skate through the offensive zone, ultimately beating Wild goalie Alex Stalock on the doorstep.

It was pretty, well, wild that Krug had so much room. After the game, Krug broke down the goal on NESN’s postgame coverage with Dale Arnold and Billy Jaffe.

“Well I wanted to kind of come up a little slower, took a step to the left to cause (Zach) Parise to have a bad gap,” Krug said. “All of the sudden a couple hard strides and, like you said, parting the seas. Obviously felt great to put one in the back of the net.

“I think I was trying to deke the whole time,” Krug later noted. “It was going to my backhand, whether it was trying to go upstairs or five-hole that’s a different story. Just tried to come in with speed and make a play. Like you said, it bobbled a little bit and eventually went in. I didn’t even see it cross the goal line, but obviously nice to get one for the team.”

It was Krug’s third goal of the season, and a nice reminder of why he’s such a pivotal part of Boston’s success — particularly on the offensive end.

Here are some other notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Wild game: 

— Krug wouldn’t have even had the chance to play hero if not for Krejci.

The center had a pair of goals just 48 seconds apart with less than two minutes to play in regulation, which forced overtime. For a long time now, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has harped on his desire for Krejci to shoot more, and those two scores show exactly why.

It was a bumpy start to the campaign for Krejci, who dealt with a couple injuries before finally settling in. But in the 12 contests that he’s been back now, he’s been tremendous. The 33-year-old has four goals and 10 assists in that stretch, all while having a variety of right wingers joining him and Jake DeBrusk on the second line.

— TD Garden has been a friendly place for the Bruins this season.

Boston has yet to lose in regulation at home this season, though Saturday probably was the best chance for that to happen. Since it didn’t, the B’s now are 9-0-4 this season on Causeway Street, posting 3.8 goals per game while conceding 2.6.

Their special teams have done well at home also, cashing in on 34.8 percent of their power-play opportunities while killing 85.1 percent of their penalties.

— Tuukka Rask got the start for the Bruins in net, but it wasn’t supposed to be that way.

Jaroslav Halak was supposed to go for Boston, but he arrived at the arena sick, according to Cassidy.

Rask ended up making 32 saves, including an impressive splits save in overtime.

— Steven Kampfer played in his third game of the season Saturday, and though it had been three weeks since his last game action, Cassidy wasn’t afraid to deploy the 31-year-old.

Kampfer logged 16:17 ice time with 1:31 of it on the penalty kill. He was on the ice for one Minnesota goal while registering a shot on goal, two hits and a takeaway.

It was an encouraging performance for Kampfer, who we might start to see playing over Connor Clifton a little more often in the coming days.

— Ryan Donato played at The Garden as a visitor for the first time in his NHL career.

The Scituate native, who was sent to the Wild at the trade deadline last season in the deal that brought Charlie Coyle to Boston, is serving fourth-line duty for Minnesota lately. He was on the ice for Victor Rask’s go-ahead goal in the second period, but ultimately played a team-low 9:13.