Preview: Bruins open back-to-back against Wild

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Just the facts​

• When: Today, 5 PM
• Where: TD Garden — Boston, Mass.
• How to follow: NESN, NHLN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
• Opposing perspective: Hockey Wilderness

Know your enemy​

• 41-20-12, 94PTS, 3rd in the Central Division
• Kirill Kaprizov: 38G-42A-80PTS; Matt Boldy: 38G-38A-76PTS; Quinn Hughes: 6G-64A-70PTS
• Filip Gustavsson: 26-12-6, 2.51 GAA, .911 save percentage; Jesper Wallstedt: 15-8-6, 2.73 GAA, .912 save percentage

Game notes​

• The Boston Bruins are set to face off against the Minnesota Wild this evening in the first of a back-to-back weekend. They’ll head to Columbus tomorrow to take on the Blue Jackets Friday.
• It will also be the first of three games in four days for the Bruins as the season winds down with 10 games left.
• It’s still a tight wild card race and again, every point matters. The B’s are holding onto the first wild card spot with 88 points, one point ahead from the New York Islanders. Ottawa trails a wild card spot by a point with 86.
• The Bruins last saw the Wild on Dec. 14, 2025. The Bruins dropped that game, 6-2. In the game, the B’s allowed two power play goals and Kaprizov scored twice.
• The Wild have the edge on special teams this evening and it’s something the Bruins need to clean up down this stretch.
• Head Coach Marco Sturm said after practice they’ve switched positions “a little bit” on the power play to try to get it going. He said they’ve tried to let things ride out, saying maybe the units need another game and have taken things day by day. But he added the power play isn’t there yet and there’s been too many turnovers. “These guys, we need to be better. Hopefully we can get back on track here as soon as possible,” he said.
• The Bruins are also looking to tune up their penalty kill as they’ve allowed five power play goals by their opponents in the last three games. “We have to find out ways to come out even,” Sturm said.
• Recent point leaders: For the Bruins, David Pastrnak has nine points in his last five games with three goals and six assists. Pavel Zacha has four goals in that time. For the Wild, Brock Faber has six points with one goal and five assists in his last five games.
• The Wild last played on Thursday when they beat the Florida Panthers, 3-2.
• The Bruins had a visit from Patrice Bergeron yesterday skating with Morgan Geekie and Fraser Minton before yesterday’s practice.
• Per the nhl.com, the Bruins are projected to look like this today:

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Lines:

Marat Khusnutdinov — Fraser Minten — David Pastrnak

Casey Mittelstadt — Pavel Zacha — Viktor Arvidsson

Lukas Reichel — Elias Lindholm — Morgan Geekie

Tanner Jeannot — Sean Kuraly — Mark Kastelic

Defensive pairings:

Jonathan Aspirot — Charlie McAvoy

Nikita Zadorov — Andrew Peeke

Hampus Lindholm — Mason Lohrei

In net:

Jeremy Swayman

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