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It’s still too early to use the term ‘season-saving’ victory, especially given the mediocrity of the Eastern Conference, but Loui Eriksson and the Boston Bruins may have had the closest thing to it with Wednesday night’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.
With David Krejci returning to the lineup skating in just his third game since Nov. 1, the Black and Gold regained some much-needed depth, and jumped out to a 1-0 edge five minutes into the first period behind Carl Soderberg’s sixth goal of the season.
It was a sequence that began with a beautiful one-handed push from Loui Eriksson, dropping the puck back for Soderberg between the dots, and giving him enough of a solid shot to pummel it by Niklas Backstrom. It was a strong start from the reunited third line featuring the Swedes and the veteran Chris Kelly, a line the Bruins have certainly missed during Krejci’s absence.
Minnesota found the equalizer just 27 seconds after Soderberg’s strike, with Kyle Brodziak putting the puck through Greg Campbell’s legs before ripping a shot through Niklas Svedberg.
The Bruins caught a lucky break, if you wanna call it that, when Patrice Bergeron struck with his sixth goal of the season, coming on a skipping puck that flat-out stunned Backstrom.
But when the puck dropped for the second, the Wild took over.
Peppering Svedberg for 20 shots on net in the middle frame, and holding the Bruins to just 23 shot attempts through 40 minutes of play, the Wild did everything but score.
...Until they were on the positive end of an odd bounce of their own midway through the third period.
On a botched clear between Svedberg, Zach Trotman, and Krejci, it was a shot that banked off a stick and by a stunned Svedberg, credited to Jason Pominville for his seventh goal of the season.
Pushed to an overtime frame for the second straight night, the Bruins found the back of the net just 90 seconds in, with Eriksson beating Backstrom for his sixth goal of the season.
Like most of their wins in 2014-15, it wasn’t pretty, but at this point who really cares? At the end of the day, the Bruins found a way to earn two points, and they’ll take that every day of the week. It also gives the Black and Gold three of a possible four points in this road swing, and again, they’ll happily take that. And most importantly, with the victory, the Bruins are back in playoff position, leapfrogging the Florida Panthers for the second wild card spot by a single point (the Panthers still have three games in hand).
But the obvious story in this game is the return of Krejci. In his first game since Nov. 18, the 28-year-old center put one shot on goal, won just two of 11 faceoffs, and was a minus-1 in 18:22 of time on ice.
It wasn’t the greatest of returns from a statistical standpoint, and that goes without saying, but Krejci’s return did bring a sense of normalcy back to the B’s lineup. In the Bruins’ first game with both Zdeno Chara and Krejci in the lineup since Oct. 23, Krejci’s return to the ice allowed coach Claude Julien to stick Milan Lucic and Seth Griffith back on that first line, limit the workload of the all-zone Bergeron line, and let Carl Soderberg return to a more comfortable spot for his game (on the third line).
That paid instant dividends, too, with the Soderberg line accounting for two of Boston’s three goals.
And when you’re talking about the B’s, it comes back to their depth. They simply haven’t had it show for much of 2014-15, but with a healthy (or at the very least, active) Krejci, they instantly do. That shift forces a team to focus in on the Krejci-Lucic combo, and allows the Bruins to roll the Soderberg line out against some weaker competition. That’s the opposite of what the last month has been for the club, and that’s more than apparent when looking at how Soderberg and company have fared against top-tier defensive units. (Read as: Not well.)
Above Krejci, and above the third line, however, it was the Niklas Svedberg show.
Finishing the night with 35 saves on 37 shots against, the Swedish netminder survived an absolute assault on his cage from the second on, and kept the Bruins in this one throughout. The 25-year-old is also developing a knack for earning his victories in style, with three of his four wins coming via overtime/shootout contests. With the win, Svedberg is now 4-4-0 with a .925 save percentage (9th in the NHL).
Random thoughts and foolery
If there’s one thing I really liked from the Bruins in this game, it was their wingers’ ability to match the intensity of the Wild along the wall and in the defensive zone. That’s tough to quantify, especially when they were obliterated in the shot department from the second period on, but it didn’t seem like the Bruins were going through the motions for 60-something minutes. They engaged and went to work against the peskier Minnesota forwards and active defensemen. A pulse is really all you’ve asked for at this point, too.
Has there been a bigger… silent... fall from grace than that of Thomas Vanek? After a dud in Montreal, the Austrian-born winger signed a heavy contract with the Minnesota Wild, complete with a $6.5 million cap-hit ‘til 2017, and has just four goals and 18 points in 30 games for the club. That’s it? Four goals? Maybe the 30-year-old is having a tough time adjusting to life in the Western Conference, but not even a game against the Bruins, a team he’s torched throughout his career, could make him noticeable in this contest.
On the Wild-- I like this team. I like this team a whole lot. But they’re not going anywhere with Niklas Backstrom manning the crease for any extended period of time. And I’m not sure that they’ll do it with Darcy Kuemper, either. You’d think that these guys will be in the market for a goaltender at the deadline (if one’s even available), or that they’ll pray that Josh Harding builds on a .920 save percentage in two AHL contests this year. At the risk of being run off the site, too, I thought the Wild were making a mistake in dumping Ilya Bryzgalov this summer (and after his autumn tryout). Especially after how well the veteran played during their second-round series against the Chicago Blackhawks last spring and his dependability in that system.* (*Not playing in front of an absolute trash-fire of a defensive corp.)
And can we please come up with a new name for Rivalry Night? John Wensink challenging the Minnesota North Stars’ bench back in 1977 does not constitute this as a rivalry. These teams met a once a year before this new scheduling format. Now it’s up to two! There’s nothing wrong with showcasing two teams on a Wednesday night in the middle of the winter. But let’s not pretend that these are rivalries. Call it.. oh I don’t know.. Wednesday Night Hockey? America’s Game of the Week? Anything but Rivalry Night?
Up next
The Bruins head to Winnipeg for a Friday night showdown with the Jets. Boston took the previous showdown between these foes by a 2-1 overtime final back on Black Friday. With a win, the Bruins will finish their three-game road swing with five of a possible six points. That’s exactly what this team could use, too.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com