Boston has a Wild time with Minnesota; lies and promises to call "once we get back" from LA

Home after a red-eye flight from San Jose, the Bruins hosted the Minnesota Wild in a Saturday matinee.

Looking to extend their two-game win streak, the Bruins trotted out the same team to face yet another plus-.500 team as part of their Road Trip From Hell (trademark pending).

As is becoming a disturbing trend for the home team, they started out the game in the hole, allowing the Wild to outshoot them nearly two-to-one in the first period. On an assist from Yanic Perreault, Tomas Plekanec gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 6:13 of the period. Forty-one seconds later, Rich Jackman delivered a cross-check that earned him a trip to the box, and a minute after he was sprung, Lee Goren found humself there as well.

In an unprecedented, non fight-related sequence, in a forty-second span, the Bruins saw three players penalized. Goren at 9:54 (roughing), Zdenek Kutlak at 10:19 (elbowing) and Jackman again at 10:34. The Bruins defense held, though, and the power play was killed. Shortly thereafter, Tim Connolly scored his second as Keith Tkachuk netted yet another assist, aided by Bret Hedican.

With less than a minute and a half to go, Bill Guerin made it a three-way tie for the team lead with his sixth goal of the season. The Bruins headed to the locker room with a 2-1 lead and some bruised eardrums, as Coach Robbie Ftorek reamed them for sloppy penalties.

The second period would not be as forgiving. Vincent LeCavalier put two past Andrew Raycroft, both unassisted, at 8:10 and 15:41. The second came on the power play for Sean Brown's second charging penalty of the period, a minor at 15:17.

Tim Connolly, having enjoyed the flashy red light in the first period, worked really hard and made it shine again at 5:22 of the third to lock the game at three all again. It would be the last scoring of the period, despite twelve shots on goal by the visitors.

In over time, both teams took a conservative approach to not lose, rather to try and win. The home whites attempted only two shots, while the Wild took a conservative attempt with only one. The Bruins wasted a thirteen-second power play attempt when Martin Havlat was whistled for charging, and the game concluded in a tie. A cool crowd of 9,955 went home feeling like they had wasted three hours of their lives.

"The way we look at it," GM Joshua Anderson said, "is that every point is a valuable one. While this is only half as valuable as a win, it sends a statement that we are continuing to give effort, and in fact, have now passed Atlanta in the standings based on goal differential. It's a small victory, but moral victories are victories as well."

The team travels to Los Angeles to face the Kings tomorrow afternoon, the conclusion of the Road Trip From Hell (trademark pending).