Wild’s Hughes Scores in Debut, 6-2 Win Over Bruins

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Boston Bruins in the second half of their home back-to-back on Sunday evening, Dec. 14. Quinn Hughes made his debut for the Wild after being traded to the team on Friday, Dec. 12. Their injury list remained the same, as Jonas Brodin, Marcus Foligno, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jake Middleton, and Mats Zuccarello remained out. The Bruins were without Victor Arvidson, Jonathan Aspirot, Michael Callahan, Henri Jokiharju, Matej Blumel, and Jordan Harris. 

Filip Gustavsson was back in the net for the Wild, and for the Bruins, it was Jeremy Swayman. Everyone, of course, was focused on Hughes’ debut, and for the Wild, it was a great start for him. The game started out in favor of the Wild, and it continued that way as the Wild won 6-2. This moved the Wild’s record to 19-9-5 and the Bruins to 19-14-0. 

Game Recap 

The Wild got the scoring started near the halfway point of the first with a power-play goal by Jared Spurgeon. Brock Faber and Marcus Johnasson assisted him to make it 1-0. That was the only goal of the first period, and the Wild took the lead into the second. 

The Wild added to their lead in the second with a goal from Kirill Kaprizov to make it 2-0. Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek assisted him. Then Ryan Hartman recorded a power play goal that made it 3-0. Faber tallied the lone assist. That was the final goal of the second, and the Wild took the 3-0 lead into the third. 

The Wild added to their lead again in the third period as Quinn Hughes scored his first goal in a Wild jersey to make it 4-0. Hartman and Nicolas Aube-Kubel assisted him. Matt Boldy scored the Wild’s fifth goal of the game towards the midway point of the third period to make it 5-0. The Bruins got themselves on the scoreboard in the latter half of the third with a goal from Alex Steeves. Fraser Minten and Michael Eyssimont assisted him to make it 5-1 and took Gustavsson’s shutout away.

Kaprizov scored his second goal of the game late in the third period, which gave his team a 6-1 lead. Hartman and Daemon Hunt assisted him. It looked like that was going to be the final goal until the Bruins added one more with .09 seconds left in the game to make it 6-2. The goal was scored by Andrew Peeke. Sean Kuraly and Tanner Jeannot assisted him. That was the final goal of the game, and the Wild took the win.

The Wild will remain at home for one more game to finish up this recent homestand on Tuesday, Dec. 16, as they host Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. The Bruins will head back home to host the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday.