Aaron Portzline watched a chunk of the Wild-Bruins replay late Saturday, and he came away saying the intensity was on another level.
The Columbus beat reporter had just seen the Blue Jackets and Flyers game at Nationwide Arena, so he had a fresh comparison. This morning he posted that the pace, passion, crisp passing and animosity between Minnesota and Boston were dramatically more intense.
Portzline wrote that the two games "looked like two completely different levels of hockey."
That is a strange compliment to take from a 6-2 loss. But it matches what the Bruins' own building felt on Saturday, and it's an outside view with no stake in Boston's side of it.
The heat showed in the third period, when Tanner Jeannot and Marcus Foligno dropped the gloves and Jeannot's fight with Foligno woke up TD Garden.
Then Charlie McAvoy and Bobby Brink dropped the gloves, according to Jack Studley. Connor Clifton got in the way, Brink ended up on the ground, and McAvoy was escorted down the tunnel.
McAvoy finished with six penalty minutes and a -4 rating in 24:34 of ice time. His ejection was the night's loudest moment.
Where the Bruins really stand against a Cup contender
Marco Sturm didn't dodge it afterward. Ty Anderson relayed his words on the Wild.
"They're a Cup contender. We want to be one of them. We're just not there yet," Sturm said, per Anderson.
Fraser Minten called it a humbling week. He scored on the power play Saturday, but the Bruins have now been outscored 11-4 across two straight losses, to Montreal and Minnesota.
Minnesota is 2nd in the NHL at 15-3-4. Boston is 13-6-1, 4th in the Atlantic and 9th overall, and that is still a good record. The Wild, though, showed them what the next step looks like, and an observer in the other building noticed it from a replay.
We think the fighting is the least important part of Portzline's note. Animosity is easy to find in a game that's already lost. Pace and crisp passing are harder, and Boston didn't match them for 60 minutes.
The Bruins get Sunday off and practice Monday. The Kings, 30th in the NHL and losers of four straight, arrive at TD Garden on Tuesday.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
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