The Boston Bruins can strengthen their hold on a playoff spot amid a crowded Eastern Conference field when they host one of the West’s best teams in the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
A victory would give Boston (40-24-8, 88 points) another highlight on an up-and-down stretch, having beaten the Detroit Red Wings and Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo Sabres while falling to the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs over the last week.
In their latest outing, the Bruins overcame a 3-2, third-period deficit and were 4-3 overtime winners on Wednesday in Buffalo. Pavel Zacha scored the game-winning goal — his career-high 24th of the season — off an assist from David Pastrnak, who used a three-point performance to run his league-leading point streak to 11 games.
“We just never gave up and came back in the game,” Zacha said. “We know what we have in this locker room, the resilience.”
The Bruins are in a six-team logjam that includes the Columbus Blue Jackets, who will host the Bruins on Sunday night.
Coach Marco Sturm knows that he needs big-time performances out of his key players at this key juncture of the season. The aforementioned Czech mates have done just that.
“He’s our guy. He needs to be our driver,” Sturm said of Pastrnak. “I feel like when he does it, we all feel it. … Down the stretch, that’s just the way it is. Those guys have to step up, and they did (on Wednesday).”
The same can be said for Jeremy Swayman, who had played four straight games before Joonas Korpisalo earned Wednesday’s result. Swayman is 6-2-1 in his last nine starts.
Meanwhile, the Bruins would love to see Morgan Geekie find another gear, as he has been stuck on a team-leading 34 goals during an 11-game scoring drought. That recent struggle is also contributing to Boston’s 3-for-28 stretch on the power play.
Minnesota (41-20-12, 94 points) has alternated wins and losses over six games, and despite putting up 50 shots, still needed Joel Eriksson Ek’s goal with 4.4 seconds left in the third period Thursday to post a 3-2 win at the Florida Panthers, who tied the game with 1:13 to go.
“A lot of teams after (Florida’s tying goal) went in would wilt, would push it to overtime and we go right back at them,” Wild forward Nick Foligno said. “It’s a testament to the group that even though things aren’t going to go our way, we’re going to find a way to make them go our way, and that’s the sign of a great team.”
It was Minnesota’s first regulation triumph since March 10.
Despite an uneasy patch, the Wild’s record is the third-best in the West, trailing only their playoff-bound Central Division rivals, the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.
Even before banking two points, it was a monumental night for Minnesota in that it put out a fully healthy lineup for the first time all season.
Marcus Foligno returned from a 12-game absence (lower-body injury), meaning that the two brothers suited up on the same team for the first time since Nick was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in a March 6 trade. In fact, they skated on the same line.
“Nick’s been good in the faceoff circle and obviously he’s played really well for us so far,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “It does give you some flexibility whether he can play wing and center, and allows us to have some different combinations.”
After the Wild started Thursday’s game with a clean bill of health, defenseman Jared Spurgeon left in the third period holding a towel up to his face after colliding face-first into the post.
