B’s defeat Wild 3-2 in OT

David Krejci made his return to the B’s lineup for tonight’s contest, which saw the B’s defeat the Minnesota Wild 3-2.

Forward Matt Fraser and defensemen Joe Morrow and Matt Bartkowski were the healthy scratches. Niklas Svedberg was in net for the B’s tonight.

Carl Soderberg beat Niklas Backstrom to put the B’s up early, netting his first goal in 15 games. Kyle Brodziak tied the game up shortly after, beating Svedberg over his shoulder. The Lucic-Krejci-Griffith line brought some great offensive chances for the B’s through net-front presence, though they couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities. Gregory Campbell took exception to a hit from Justin Falk in the offensive zone, and both were quick to drop the gloves shortly after. Patrice Bergeron scored off a wrist shot shortly after entering the offensive zone, giving the B’s the lead in the first.

Both teams exchanged great chances to start the second, but the B’s best chance came from a 2-on-1 that was created because of a stick-lift in the defensive zone by Reilly Smith. Backstrom made a great save on Torey Krug at the doorstep after a nice feed from Brad Marchand. The B’s were sent on their first penalty kill of the game, as Patrice Bergeron was whistled for hooking. Kevan Miller was called for tripping Zach Parise, and the B’s would have to kill off a 5-on-3 for 1:12. The Wild were unable to capitalize on either penalty. Svedberg came up huge in the second, making a few timely saves to keep the B’s ahead to end the second. Overall, the B’s floundered a bit in the second, being outshot 20-5 with long periods of time spent in their defensive zone.

After being outworked in nearly every area in the second, the B’s needed a huge third period. Zach Parise was sent to the box for tripping Kevan Miller, sending the B’s on their first power play of the night, but they were unable to capitalize. A scramble in front of the net saw the puck cross the line after getting stuck underneath Backstrom’s pad, but after being reviewed, the call was no goal – the reason being that Chris Kelly pushed both the puck and Backstrom’s pad into the goal. Great zone time for the Wild lead to a Jason Pominville goal off of a lucky bounce. The B’s were put on the power play when Craig Cunningham took an elbow to the head from Ryan Sutter. The B’s were unable to produce, and both teams would head to OT.

Loui Eriksson scored in OT to give the B’s the win.

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