Game Recap: Wild 6, Bruins 2

St. PAUL, Minn. -- Quinn Hughes scored in his debut with the Minnesota Wild, a 6-2 win against the Boston Bruins at Grand Casino Arena on Sunday.

Hughes made it 4-0 at :54 of the third period with wrist shot down the middle that beat Jeremy Swayman five-hole.

“Yeah, I mean, (Ryan Hartman) made a great pass there in front of me,” Hughes said. “It’s impressive, this team … and as I get going here, and feel more comfortable and get my legs under me, this is going to be exciting.”

The defenseman had three shots in 26:55 of ice time in his first game since being traded to Minnesota from the Vancouver Canucks on Friday for defenseman Zeev Buium, forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

“It’s been a whirlwind for sure,” Hughes said. “I’m just looking forward to kind of getting my feet on the ground and get with the team here and get in a day-to-day lifestyle here. But definitely last 48 hours have been a lot, but I was excited to go play the game.”

Kirill Kaprizov had two goals and an assist, Hartman had a goal and two assists, and Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist for the Wild (19-9-5), who extended their winning streak to four games and home point streak to 12 games (10-0-2). Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves.

“The crowd was electric I think just from the … I would say warm-ups to the introduction and then throughout the game,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “So it was great to see the building like that and the guys performed the way that they did. So it was a great combo.”

Alex Steeves and Andrew Peeke scored, and Swayman made 25 saves for the Bruins (19-14-0), who had won four straight.

“They’re a very good hockey team,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “They’re built pretty big. They play the right way. They play pretty hard, and they go to the net really hard, too. So that’s something I mentioned, even between periods. That’s something we have to learn. And even if teams like that, we have to learn from that, and that shows we’re not there yet, and that’s a good thing, I think.

“Do we like the end results? No, but we had our chances in the first, even in the second period, and those are the chances that you have to use otherwise it’s going to get hard against a team like that.

Jared Spurgeon put Minnesota ahead 1-0 at 10:11 of the first period with a wrist shot through traffic as Swayman was screened by Marcus Johansson on the power play.

Kaprizov extended the lead 2-0 at 8:49 of the second period with backhand shot on a rebound in front off an initial Boldy shot.

Hartman made it 3-0 on the power play, finishing a 2-on-0 with Brock Faber at 12:57.

Minnesota went 2-for-2 on the power play.

“I don’t know, I don’t think I was even skating that fast, I think more so they got caught flat-footed a little bit it seemed,” Faber said. “And, I mean, when you’re skating it like that, especially at that speed, you don’t really expect for a play like that to open up. But kind of seam just parted and it was pretty easy from there. ‘Hartzy’ with a great finish too.”

After Hughes’ goal, Boldy made it 5-0 at 8:08 of the third period when he got his initial rebound and skated behind the net to the bottom of the right circle for the low snap shot.

Steeves cut the deficit 5-1 at 10:58 when the puck popped loose to him after a scramble in front.

“I think we lost the special teams battle early and then ended up chasing the game,” Steeves said. “We didn't quit or anything like that, but once we kind of went down and lost those special teams you're just backchecking from there.”

It appeared Boldy made it 6-1 at 13:01 with his shot zinging off the crossbar but video review determined the puck did not cross the goal line and the score remained 5-1.

Kaprizov did make it 6-1 at 14:55 after coming off the bench as the extra attacker on a delayed penalty.

Gustavsson poke-checked Sean Kuraly on the breakaway and then followed with a paddle save on Tanner Jeannot on the second attempt before Peeke scored on the third rebound with one second remaining with a snap shot for the 6-2 final.

"Well, we're up six to one. I thought maybe once I can do it and try it and, you know, I poke checked it and then saved the second one, and then they scored on the third one,” Gustavsson said. “So, that's what happens when you try all that."

NOTES: Kaprizov recorded his sixth 20-goal season and passed Marian Gaborik and Zach Parise for the most in Wild history. His 205 goals are tied with Mikko Koivu for second-most in Wild history behind Marian Gaborik (219). … Johansson left during the second period with an undisclosed injury and Wild defenseman David Jiricek left at 17:43 of the third period after crashing into the boards. No updates were provided on either postgame.