STREET. PAUL, Minn. — David Pastrnak scored his 47th goal of the season and Linus Ullmark made 29 saves as the Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Saturday.
Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and Trent Frederic also scored for Boston, which has won two in a row and is looking to surpass the record of 62 wins and 132 points in a season.
Pastrnak has six goals and seven assists in his last eight games and is second in the league in goals behind Connor McDavid, who started the day with 57.
“I think we chased them about as well as we’ve ever done in a 60-minute game,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “It was good to try to have a mindset where we have a chance to end someone’s streak. Instead of being hunted, we were hunting.”
Minnesota, which began the day one point behind first-place Dallas and two points ahead of Colorado in the Central, hadn’t lost in regulation since Feb. 15 against the Avalanche. The Wild went 11-0-3 on a franchise-record 14-game point streak.
Marcus Johansson and Oskar Sundqvist, both acquired by Minnesota at the trade deadline, scored goals. Filip Gustavsson saved 34 shots on target for the Wild.
“Obviously they’ve been the best team in the league all year and we showed that we can play with them,” Johansson said. “A few tough breaks. Is that how it works. We played a good game and we have to learn from him and move on.”
Johansson, who was acquired from Washington for a third-round draft pick, opened the scoring against the leading East midway through the first.
Minnesota looked to take a 2-0 lead, but a Matt Dumba goal was disallowed after an offside review.
The Wild had two apparent scores removed for in-game offside reviews. Connor Dewar was clearly offside on Dumba’s goal and Matt Boldy was declared offside after passing the puck into the box and appeared to cross the line before the puck.
“They’re both sidelined, so there’s nothing to complain about,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “A couple of bad breaks, obviously a third one goes off our stick and into the net. That’s three goals there, we’re in this hockey game.”
DeBrusk then tied the game before the first intermission with his 21st goal of the season. Pastrnak and Krejci scored in the second half. It was Krejci’s first goal in 11 games.
The Bruins (52-11-5) had lost three of four before winning the last two games. They are looking to surpass the NHL record of 62 wins held by the Red Wings from 1995-96 and the Lightning from 2018-19. They also have a chance to surpass the record of 132 points amassed by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens.
“Usually when we play against tough teams and against teams that have done well, we get to our game right away because we know we have to,” Boston forward Charlie Coyle said of stopping the scoring streak. of Wild. “So usually our start is on. Whether we score the first goal or not, we stay there. We do the right things. We play simple and you see when we do that, we take control.”
Sundqvist scored for the second game in a row in the third on the power play. He has two goals in six games for Minnesota since he was acquired by a fourth-round draft pick.
Boston entered the game with the best penalty kick in the league, killing 85.7% of their shorthanded situations.
Bergeron responded with his 25th goal of the season and Frederic scored an empty net.
A GOOD PAIR
Bergeron and Brad Marchand assisted on DeBrusk’s goal in the second, the 407th time in their careers they have combined on a goal. He set a new franchise record, surpassing the total of Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge. Marchand had three assists in the game.
“I thought the Bergeron line set the tone for us,” Montgomery said. “Couple of great forecast goals. I thought everyone was involved. … That disinterest that we have seen throughout the year was very evident tonight.”
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Bruins: Finish their five-game road trip in Buffalo on Sunday.
Savage: Host Washington on Sunday.
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