Going into Sunday night's final stop on their three-game road trip, the Boston Bruins were looking to sweep their trip against the Minnesota Wild. Easier said than done.
After beating the St. Louis Blues, 5-2, and the Winnipeg Jets, 6-3, to begin the trip, the Bruins were blown out, 6-2, by the Wild. It was a perfect first game for new Minnesota defenseman Quinn Hughes, who played his first game with his new team after Friday night's trade.
He scored one of the Wild's six goals, and it was a game that wasn't close. Boston lost the special teams battle, they were outplayed 5-on-5, and scored their second goal of the game on an Andrew Peeke snipe with 0.8 seconds left. As bad as things were for 60 minutes, head coach Marco Sturm wasn't as upset as you might think.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm has an interesting take on his team's performance against the Wild
The Bruins fell behind on a Jared Spurgeon first-period power-play goal and saw the lead grow to 5-0 before Alex Steeves got the Black and Gold on the board midway through the third period. Sturm was not completely upset with his team's performance or the trip in general.
“I’m very happy with the games we played. Even here, half of the game was pretty solid. We go home over .500 – that’s exactly what we wanted,” Sturm said. “Guys [dug] in, guys played hard. To play in those three buildings, it’s not easy. I’m happy with this road trip, for sure.”
He's not wrong about the trip. Throw the records out the window in the NHL nowadays. Yes, the Blues and Jets are struggling, but Boston did what they needed to do; they went into their opponents' building and took two points in regulation. As far as Minnesota goes, they are now 10-0-2 in their last 12 games and playing some great hockey.
Four out of a possible six points on the road is a good road trip for the 2025-26 Boston Bruins. Beginning Tuesday night, they have a five-game homestand before the Christmas break, and banking points over the next eight days is a must, beginning with the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night.