Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm each capped off two-goal performances with insurance markers late in the third period, leading the Boston Bruins to a 6-3 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Zacha’s first goal lifted him to the 25-goal mark for the first time in his career. Eleven of his 26 tallies have come in March alone.
Viktor Arvidsson logged a goal and an assist, Andrew Peeke also scored, and David Pastrnak dished out two assists to run his point streak to 12 consecutive games for Boston (41-24-8, 90 points), which is 5-1-2 in its last eight games.
Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves.
Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello paced Minnesota (41-21-12, 94 points) with a goal and an assist each. Kirill Kaprizov also lit the lamp, Quinn Hughes had two assists, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 25 shots.
The Bruins surged off the opening faceoff and needed just 1:01 to take a 1-0 lead. After Pastrnak forced a turnover and had a point-blank shot saved by Gustavsson, he extended the early shift and slipped a pass to Peeke in the right circle for a top-shelf goal.
Zacha doubled the Boston advantage with six minutes left in the first, finishing a 2-on-1 rush with Arvidsson by slotting home a one-timer from the right side.
Swayman made back-to-back saves on Zuccarello during a flurry in the opening minutes of the middle frame before Arvidsson made it a 3-0 game with 10:27 left. Pastrnak drove down the right wing and slipped a cross-ice pass through traffic to Arvidsson, who shot home a one-timer from the bottom of the opposite circle.
The visitors got on the scoreboard at 14:46, as Brock Faber jumpstarted the offense with a lead pass to Ryan Hartman, whose diagonal feed set up Kaprizov rushing down the wing for a high shot past Swayman’s shoulder.
Boston’s lead expanded back to three at 3:48 of the final frame. After winning a neutral-zone draw, Lindholm drove hard to the net and was wide open to score Lukas Reichel’s quick pass across the crease to make it 4-1.
In the waning seconds of Minnesota’s full two-minute 5-on-3 power play, Quinn Hughes dropped a pass back to Zuccarello, who stepped into the left circle and scored a wrister at 7:57.
At 13:44, Hartman batted in his own rebound in the slot to bring the Wild back into a one-goal game.
Swayman made a key stop on Brock Faber less than a minute after Hartman’s goal, then Zacha deflected in Casey Mittelstadt’s turnaround shot from above the circle to provide a cushion for the Bruins with 3:10 remaining.
Lindholm added an empty-netter in the final minute.
–Field Level Media
