Bruins Wrap: Torey Krug Scores OT Winner As Boston Earns Comeback Victory Vs. Wild

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Nov 23, 2019

Welcome back, Torey Krug.

In his return from a five-game absence, Krug scored the overtime winner as the Boston Bruins earned a 5-4 comeback victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Boston was down two goals with less than two minutes to play in the game, but a pair tallies from David Krejci at 18:05 and 18:53 forced overtime.

Jake DeBrusk and Brad Marchand had the other goals for the Bruins. Jason Zucker, Victor Rask, Eric Staal and Kevin Fiala had the Wild’s tallies.

Tuukka Rask made 32 saves for the Bruins, while Alex Stalock turned away 34 shots for Minnesota.

Here’s how it all went down:

WILD STRIKE FIRST
Although it was better than their first-period effort against Buffalo on Thursday, the Bruins didn’t have their best jump against the Wild, who finished the opening 20 minutes ahead 1-0.

At 8:46 in the period, Torey Krug went into the box for slashing Fiala, and the Wild scored off the first draw. Staal won the face-off in Minnesota’s offensive zone, with Mats Zuccarello gathering the puck and skating up to the point. Zuccarello pivoted and sent a diagonal pass to Brad Hunt, whose one-timer was stopped by Rask. However, the netminder left a nice rebound, which Zucker quickly backhanded past Rask at 8:53.

Minnesota put 15 shots on net to Boston’s 10 in the first. The Bruins did have a quality chance to draw even, but poor execution coupled with a nice stop from Stalock prevented a goal.

GOALS GALORE
Each side found twine twice in the middle period, sending the Wild into the third ahead 3-2.

Shortly before the quarter point of the frame, David Krejci did a nice job to win a defensive zone draw, with Brett Ritchie racing to gather the puck and begin a counter-attack. Following a scrum in the corner, Ritchie worked the puck to Zdeno Chara, who teed up a slap shot from the point. DeBrusk had set himself a few feet in front of the crease, and got his stick in the way to redirect the puck past Stalock at 4:14.

The level score would only last two minutes.

After the Wild established their offensive zone and worked around the edge for the moment, Jared Spurgeon uncorked a slap shot that got through traffic but was kicked away by Rask. Victor Rask was crashing to the net though, and the puck caromed off his skate and into the net. There was a review to make sure Victor Rask didn’t kick the puck in, but after a brief look it was deemed a good goal.

The Wild proceeded to pile on from there.

Chara was hit with a double minor for high-sticking Zucker, and Minnesota cashed in 1:43 into the advantage.

Zuccarello carried the puck through the circle, then zipped a pass to Ryan Suter in the high slot. Suter’s one-timer was stopped by Staal in front of the net, but Staal quickly smacked the bouncing puck home at 14:26.

It had been an ugly 20 minutes for the Bruins, but they did pull within one just before the horn sounded.

Krug ripped a shot from the point that appeared to be with the intent of setting up a tip-in attempt for David Pastrnak. Instead, the puck went wide and hit the end boards, but bounced diagonally to Marchand at the bottom of the circle. Marchand slid the puck five-hole on Stalock as he moved across his crease just four seconds before the end of the period.

The Bruins held 13-11 shots advantage in the period.

STUNNER
It looked as though the Wild put things away in the third, but a late surge by the Bruins forced overtime.

The Wild had a rush going a little over five minutes into the period, with Fiala carrying the puck deep into the offensive zone. He attempted to slide the puck across the crease to Parise, but the puck stuck Krug’s stick as he skated backwards and went into his own net, putting the Wild up 4-2.

Fiala was credited with the goal.

The Bruins pulled Rask with a little over two minutes left, and they climbed within one as a result.

Stalock stopped a redirection from DeBrusk off a shot from Pastrnak, but Minnesota could execute the couple of chances they had to smack the puck to safety. Instead, the puck trickled to Krejci at the far post, and he easily put home Boston’s third goal.

Then, Krejci completed the comeback.

Boston went on the power-play when Luke Kunin tripped Charlie McAvoy. Patrice Bergeron lost his stick shortly into the man advantage, and after getting a new one, he got the puck at the point and fed it to Krejci, who buried a sharp-angle one-time 48 seconds after his first goal to pull the Bruins even and force overtime.

TOREY IS BACK
Krug long has been tremendous in 3-on-3 overtime, and his presence was much welcomed by the Bruins.

The Bruins defenseman had the puck all by himself deep in his own zone, then proceeded to skate forward. The Wild were incapable of stopping him, so he ultimately skated the length of the ice and burned Stalock through his legs to give the Bruins the victory.

UP NEXT
The Bruins will hit the road in a couple days and take on the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. Puck drop from Bell Centre is set for 7 p.m. ET.

Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
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