Wallstedt Holds Firm as Wild Leave Boston With a 6-2 Win
Minnesota 6, Boston 2 — and the scoreline hides how much of this game the Bruins actually had. Boston had more of the puck going toward the net and the better looks, yet left TD Garden losing by four. The difference was between the pipes.
Boston outshot Minnesota 32-25 and fired 59 shot attempts to 46. Its chances were worth 3.30 expected goals — how many goals an average night's finishing would produce — against 2.21 for the Wild.
Jesper Wallstedt erased that gap. He stopped 30 of 32, including all 12 of the most dangerous looks he faced. At the other end, Jeremy Swayman stopped 19 of 24, letting in five on chances that should have produced far fewer.
Minnesota made its shots count: Danila Yurov and Ryan Hartman scored twice each, and Blake Coleman added a goal and two assists. David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist on six shots for Boston, but the bounces, and the goaltending, went Minnesota's way. The Wild stay first in the Central at 14-3-4.
