Wild at Bruins

The weekend’s two-in-two – home today against Minnesota and tomorrow at Columbus – brings an AHL flavor to the NHL’s stretch run toward the playoffs. The Wild (41-20-12=94) are tuning up while constantly being reminded of the unfair Stanley Cup tournament format that will pit their top-five-in-the-league record against Dallas in the Central Division’s 2-3 series. The Colorado Avalanche virtually clinched the Presidents Trophy in December.

With three of the league’s best-five records in one division, Commissioner Gary Bettman has been peppered with questions about the fairness of a format that would see the Wild have to go through Dallas and probably Colorado to reach the Western Conference final.

Alternative playoff formats, especially those from bygone eras, have been proposed apart from the context of this situation, mostly because those proposing these alternatives fell in love with their NHL team when that format was in place. That’s not a good reason to replace one playoff format with another.

The reason why it’s an unfair format is because teams play their divisional rivals barely more times than they play intra-conference foes, which isn’t much more than they play teams in the opposite conference. It’s a relatively balanced regular-schedule that determines teams’ records, so why would teams be grouped into four divisions.

It’s obvious the NHL believes that an essential marketing plan includes getting the game’s superstars into all 31 other arenas. The problem this poses, beyond the dissolution of long-standing rivalries that the league pretends to celebrate, is a necessarily balanced schedule.

No one playoff format is perfect, and any format can present an anomaly. But to be fair, any playoff format needs to be based on the regular-season schedule. If you play your divisional rivals 6 or 8 times a season, than the playoffs should go through the division. But, if you only play your divisional rivals 4 or 5 times, in some cases equaling the number of times you play against teams outside your division but inside your conference, then playoff matchups should be based on conference seeding rather than division seeding.

For the first time since the first three years of the 1967 expansion (when the expansion division – West) guaranteed an expansion team in the Cup final, the format is unfair.

Yes, I’ll try like hell not to miss a Minnesota-Dallas playoff game, but half the motivation is the hockey and the other half the drama of knowing a series worthy of a conference final is guaranteed to eliminate a Cup contender.

One more thing: The NHL worked many years, several decades in fact, to achieve regular-season relevance. The season is pressure-filled from October through April, and while playoff emotion cannot be bottled, the NHL has done itself a great service by resisting those who recommend play-in games such as used by the NBA. These games we’ve been watching throughout March, these are hockey’s play-in games. Want to erode the quality of what we’ve seen and will continue to right to the middle of April? Expand the tournament. So here’s the one more thing: If the NHL is smart enough to avoid regular-season erosion with a play-in round, then the league should be smart enough to realize whichever team, the Stars or the Wild, that loses this opening-round series, will pull back from a full regular-season commitment to winning in 2026-27.

After all the effort to sustain regular-season attention, how will the NHL like that?

FIRST PERIOD

A great opening shift by the Fraser Minten line with alert forechecking by the speedy Marat Khusnutdinov and the brilliant David Pastrnak, also with support from opening defense pairing Charlie McAvoy and Jonathan Aspirot, led to the game’s first goal by Andrew Peeke. Pastrnak set it up, as the Wild had been run ragged for most of a minute, and gave Peeke too much time to rip off just the right shot inside the left post on Minnesota starter Filip Gustavsson.

Because of a typically responsible decision to end his shift while the Bruins were still cycling the puck, Minten pushed his way up the LW boards to Boston’s bench before Peeke’s goal materialized. So Minten didn’t get the plus, but he did get a secondary assist. Time of the goal 1:01 of the opening period.

The game flattens out, but Mark Kastelic, who nearly had a scrape early in the game, gives up 2 inches to 6-foot-6 Michael McCarron but lands the blow that spins McCarron off balance and ignites the home crowd with 6:10 remaining in the period. Both players wear 47.

The momentum of Kastelic’s fight goes with the Bruins, who score on the next shift to make it 2-0, as Viktor Arvidsson shakes off a check, passes the 2-on-1 to Pavel Zacha, who takes it upstairs.

Kastelic mishandled but recovered a puck possession and flung a cross-ice pass that required a Gustavsson stop with time about to run out on the first period.

Bruins lead it after one, 2-0, but Minnesota finished the period with a 13-9 shots-on-goal advantage.

SECOND PERIOD

Several recent games have started off one way and completely gone the other. The Bruins enter the second period knowing the Minnesota Wild can turn this thing around.

Minnesota comes out banging, and the Foligno brothers Marcus and Nick – sons of longtime Buffalo nemesis Mike – ignite a series of shifts that force Jeremy Swayman to be his acrobatic best to keep the Wild off the board.

Quinn Hughes, who also played a key role in generating Minnesota’s early-period scoring threats, blocked a Pastrnak shot and labored to the visiting bench. He did not miss a shift.

Pastrnak made a vintage improvisation to create a shooting space from the left circle and drilled the near post and out the right side behind Gustavsson.

Great play by Hughes to sweep the puck past a forechecking Casey Mittelstadt for Zuccarello.

Arvidsson snaps his stick and makes a jab at the puck before realizing what had happened. I’ve seen this reaction-type of play with a broken stick called for a penalty in an early-1970s game at Toronto.

Incredibly long cycle shift by the Bruins with changes brings out Pastrnak, whose cross=-ice feed finds Arvidsson for a one-timer from a sharp angle and a 3-0 lead. Terrific work by several players, including a rescue play by Aspirot, who had looked to be in trouble before reversing the puck’s direction from his knees. Hampus Lindholm with the second assist. He’s been terrific today, especially when the Wild have sicked their dogs on Mason Lohrei.

Matt Boldy stops Arvidsson, who had made a pretty good move to spin away.

The elite Karill Kaprizov finishes a pretty bang-bang play off the rush, and with 5:14 remaining in the middle period it’s a 3-1 game.

Next shift, Minten to the box for hooking, putting the Wild on the powerplay. The TD Garden crowd has determined that the Minten PIM’s are B.S.

Khusnutdinov makes a great effort to outrace and outfox the Minnesota point men, but his shot misses the post.

Hughes hugs Tanner Jeannot’s stick as the Boston penalty killer was trying to free himself to get back up ice with the Wild rushing the puck during the second minute of the powerplay. Swayman has to make a save off the rush as a result. The fans didn’t like that either.

Shots on goal: 25-21 Minnesota through two periods.

THIRD PERIOD

Blown coverage by the Wild’s team defense gives Elias Lindholm a tap-in at 3:48 to make it a 4-1 game. It won’t look like much in the box score, but what a big goal for the Bruins. At 3-1, the Wild still looked capable of coming back in a hurry.

Nikita Zadorov to the box and he’s joined by Khusnutdinov, two minors, the second on the delayed penalty, so it’s a simultaneous 5-on-3 for the Wild, who still have plenty of time on the clock with 13:51 left in regulation time (down 4-1).

Ryan Hartman makes it a one-goal game with 6:16 remaining, as Minnesota’s quick sticks all around the ice translate into possession wins, an in-zone possession and the right combination of touches to whack an aerial rebound past a brilliant Swayman.

The Bruins are not getting the puck luck in the late stages, as Mittelstadt loses the handle but manages to move it before Arvidsson finds Pavel Zacha and – wait for it … his stick snaps on the shot.

Brock Faber streaks in – save Swayman.

This is definitely the stage of the season where the Bruins are getting some of their points because of superior goaltending.

Massive insurance goal from Zacha with 3:10, tipping a spin-around point shot from Mittelstadt, who is back to playing his pre-Olympics game of crafty, two-way smarts. 5-3 Boston.

Minny Coach John Hynes uses his one and only.

Gustavsson to the bench for a sixth with 2:45.

Elias Lindholm puts a bonnet on it with 33.3 seconds left.

Bruins will win, leading 6-3.

At CLB tomorrow, also a 5 pm ET start.

Drive safely.