Bruins Close Road Trip with 6-2 Loss to Wild 

SAINT PAUL –– The Boston Bruins closed out their road trip with a 6-2 loss against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday at Grand Casino Arena.​

The Bruins collected four of the six points available on the three-game outing.

“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,” head coach Marco 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.”

​Jared Spurgeon opened the scoring for the Wild while on the power play in the first period with a wrist shot at 10:11 for the 1-0 lead. Minnesota then widened the gap in the middle frame.

“It just shows you the margin of error is very small. Tonight, the difference unfortunately seemed to be our penalty kill, which is, personally, sucks,” Sean Kuraly said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and realize that’s what can make a difference and can win a game. We’ll learn from it.”

​Kirill Kaprizov’s backhander off the boards made it 2-0 at 8:49, before the Wild logged their second tally on the man advantage of the night. This time, it was Ryan Hartman, who released a one-timer off a cross-crease pass from Brock Faber at 12:57 for the 3-0 scoreline.

“It is hard in this league when you get behind in the first in a lot of games. I still think 5-on-5 we did a lot of good stuff,” Hampus Lindholm said. “I don’t think we should get too high or too low here. We’ve been doing some good stuff. Try to learn from games like this, get home and have some good wins there at TD Garden.”

Quinn Hughes – who was skating in his first game with the Wild after getting traded from the Vancouver Canucks on Friday – scored 54 seconds into the third, pushing the deficit to 4-0, before Matt Boldy made it 5-0 at 8:08.

Alex Steeves got the Bruins on the board at 10:58. Mikey Eyssimont collected the puck behind the net and popped it up to Fraser Minten, who tapped it over to Steeves to rip past Filip Gustavsson from the slot. It was Steeves’ seventh goal of the season and fourth in six games.

“I think just trying to get pucks behind them and forecheck and get pucks off the wall to the net – that was a good shift,” Steeves said. “I think our approach as a line was solid and we wanted to do it the right way, and got rewarded for it.”

Kaprizov’s second goal of the night at 14:55 put the Wild up 6-1. Andrew Peeke scored with one second remaining in regulation to bring the contest to its final 6-2 standing. It was Peeke’s second goal of the year. Kuraly had the primary assist, which marked his fourth point in three games.

“It’s easier to feel good about it when you win games. You kind of play to be a piece to help the team win a game,” Kuraly said. “It’s definitely nice to contribute. But to find a way to help us win, I think, is the most important thing.”​

The Bruins open a five-game homestand on Tuesday when they host the Utah Mammoth at TD Garden.