Wild at Bruins
The Minnesota Wild have allowed the fewest goals in the NHL but they cannot be feeling too good about their defense entering Tuesday's matchup at the Boston Bruins. The Wild gave up six goals in their first six games but must recover from a shocking collapse after surrendering five third-period tallies in Monday's loss to the New York Rangers. "We have to push this behind us, but we have to learn," coach Mike Yeo said. "I mean, this is twice already this year where we've blown third-period leads."
The Bruins had to deal with a blow to their collective own psyche after captain Zdeno Chara suffered a knee injury on Thursday and is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks. Boston regrouped with perhaps its finest performance of the season, posting a 4-1 victory at Toronto two nights later to provide a spark heading into a stretch of five home games in the next six. "We played as a unit on the ice, and it showed," defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said. "When you play like that, it makes the game a whole lot simpler."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBC Sports, NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE WILD (4-3-0): As galling as blowing the three-goal third-period lead was, Minnesota also was flustered by its inability to convert on four power-play chances, including a failure to score on a pair of five-minute penalties. "Just can’t get it to go," said defenseman Ryan Suter. "I think it’s going to be an ugly goal. It’s got to be an ugly goal for us to get it going." Minnesota has yet to convert with the man advantage this season, going 0-for-24 to join Buffalo (0-for-30) as the only teams without a power-play goal.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (5-5-0): With Chara sidelined, coach Claude Julien is looking for contributions up and down his lineup and he praised the play of the fourth line of Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell and Simon Gagne. Campbell has scored twice in the league three games, including a short-handed tally against the Maple Leafs. "I like the way that we're playing," said Paille, who assisted on both of Campbell's goals. "Hopefully we can give some of our top end guys a little bit of a break and help out a little bit more than we have in the past."
OVERTIME
1. Wild C Erik Haula took a vicious elbow to the head in Monday's game and did not return.
2. Bruins C David Krejci is riding a six-game point streak.
3. The teams split a pair of meetings last season, with each winning at home.