Wild back on track with 1-0 victory over Bruins

With 28 saves, Filip Gustavsson recorded his fourth shutout of the season.

By Jess Myers, Pioneer Press – March 2, 2025

With its combination of skills and speed and size, hockey can be a beautiful game. But if you win when it’s less than pretty, that’s fine too. As long as you win.

That was the message the Minnesota Wild delivered on Sunday afternoon in St. Paul, turning in a 1-0 victory over the Boston Bruins to snap a three-game losing streak and usher in March on a high note.

“We had a tough loss to the Red Wings at home, and then we played horrible for two games there on the road and get back here and get a dirty 1-0 win, it feels good,” said Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson, who stopped all 28 of the Bostonians’ shots for his fourth shutout of the season, and 10th in a Wild uniform.

The win came a day after Minnesota acquired forward Gustav Nyquist ahead of the rapidly-approaching trade deadline, giving the offense a boost as they continue to play without standouts Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek.

“He’s just such a smart player and unique player. You don’t see guys like that often,” said Wild forward Freddie Gaudreau, who scored the game’s only goal. “He can just beat guys with his shoulder fakes and stuff, create space and sees the game better than anybody I know. It’s really fun, and more than that, he’s such a great guy. So, I was happy when I saw that yesterday.”

Playing wing on the team’s top line with Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy, Nyquist logged 17 minutes with one shot on goal in his second debut in Minnesota. He played nine games with the Wild late in the 2022-23 season, six in a first-round playoff series loss to Dallas.

After a scoreless first period, the Wild took a lead five minutes into the second on Gaudreau’s 13th goal of the season. He tipped a shot — off his rear end, he admitted later — fired by Marcus Johansson beyond the blocker of Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, who had blanked the Wild in early February when they faced off in Boston.

Perhaps most significantly for Minnesota, which has struggled killing penalties all season, they held Boston off the board for the four minutes a Wild player was in the penalty box.

“It’s something we spend a lot of time on. It was good for the guys. … We had to kill those and we did,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “So, we keep building on it and maybe look at some different guys and some tweaks, so we’ll go from there. But it was good to stabilize it tonight.”

After getting pushed around in a pair of road losses last week, Minnesota tried to set the tone early, with tough guy Marcus Foligno dropping gloves for a bout with Boston’s Mark Kastelic. After 5 minutes in the penalty box to reflect on his actions, Foligno admitted the fight was as much about firing himself up as it was for the team and the fans.

“I’ll be honest, got to get myself going. I’m not happy with the last two games with myself, and it was just needed,” he said. “It was a physical game early, and then something we need to establish more of. Everyone just needs to be a little bit grittier, and it’s my job from time to time to do that and spark the guys.”

It was the sixth loss, in overtime or in regulation, in the past seven games for the Bruins, who got 21 saves from Swayman, but put nothing on the scoreboard.

“It was a tight-checking game. It was hard fought. There wasn’t a lot of easy ice out there for either team,” Boston coach Joe Sacco said. “I thought our guys showed a real strong effort today, coming off back to back games. It’s disappointing. Obviously, we want points right now, and we’ve got to find ways to get it behind the goaltender.”

With Jonas Brodin out week-to-week with a lower body injury, the Wild had called up defenseman David Jiricek on Saturday, but he was a healthy scratch versus the Bruins. Zach Bogosian, who missed his first game of the season on Friday in Colorado due to a lower body ailment, returned to the lineup and logged 14 minutes.

The Wild head to the Pacific coast for a pair this week, making their only visit of the season to Seattle on Tuesday, and their first of two visits to Vancouver on Friday. Both games face off at 9 p.m. CT.

PHOTO: Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber, front, skates with the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, March 2, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. | AP Photo/Abbie Parr