BOSTON — The Bruins’ win streak snapped at three on Thursday night at the hands of the Minnesota Wild.
Boston actually struck first thanks to Taylor Hall’s seventh goal of the season, but three unanswered goals by the Wild would prove to be too great a deficit to climb back from as the Bruins fell 3-2 at TD Garden. It was a one-goal contest and in looking at the stats it really could’ve been anyone’s game, but the Bruins never were able to fully gain momentum and put themselves over the top.
Wild goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen is a big reason for the lack of Boston success in the game as he stopped 36 shots and looked especially like a brick wall across the final period. But it also was a clunky game in general. The two teams combined for 50 penalty minutes on the night, with Boston racking up 28 of their own, and it seemed neither team really was able to full grab control because just as one did, there would be a whistle soon after.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy talked about the officiating afterward in his postgame media availability but more so focused on the overall flow of Thursday’s game.
“There was a lack of flow in some of the calls, I think,” Cassidy said. “Officials make calls and they may second guess themselves. They seemed to chase the game a little with there for awhile. What I mean by that is sometimes they’ll call one then even it out the other way. At the end of the day there was a little bit of that and you couldn’t really get going. And then you’re not finishing maybe some chances you’d like. Puck hops over your stick, that happened to a few guys tonight.”
Boston left winger Taylor Hall also joined in on the sentiment.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes, you’ve got to be ready to be put out there and do a job,” Hall said. “At the start of a game you never know how it’s going to go. Sometimes it’s going to be no penalties all night, good rhythm five-on-five. Sometimes you’re going to have to find rhythm yourself, it’s a tough balance but that’s how it goes.”
All in all it was a roller coaster night for the Bruins who at times seemed dominant but now they’ll have a day off Friday before returning to action Saturday night against the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Here are some other notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Wild game:
— Tuukka Rask, who signed a PTO contract with the Providence Bruins on Thursday, was scheduled to play in his first game Friday night but due to COVID-19 the game has been cancelled.
Cassidy didn’t have much of an update on what this means for the longtime Bruins netminder, but did say he didn’t think this would mean he would travel with the Bruins for their upcoming road trip.
“I found out tonight the games got cancelled but was focusing on Minnesota,” Cassidy said. “I have no idea what’ll be going on. We’re going to fly to Tampa tomorrow and hopefully play weather permitting. I can give you an update maybe tomorrow in the media session but I honestly don’t know what he’ll do moving forward. I do not believe he’ll travel with us.”
— Hall and Marchand netted the two goals for Boston in the loss to the Wild. It was Hall’s second goal in his last four games also extended his point streak to four games as well. With the goal Marchand now has 12 on the campaign and extended his point streak to five games in the process.
— The Bruins return to action Saturday night at Amalie Arena against the Lightning with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. All coverage can be found right here on NESN, including an hour of pre- and postgame coverage.
