ST. PAUL, Minn. - Loui Erikkson tapped the game-winner in the overtime session to give the Boston Bruins a 3-2 decision over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night.
Carl Soderberg dished the assist after skating behind the Wild net, finding Erikkson waiting in front to Niklas Backstrom's unattended right side.
The strike, a minute-thirty into the extra time, ended the Bruins' three-game losing skid and their first victory after losing eight of their last ten outings.
"It's time we got a break," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "People who have watched us, I'm sure a lot of people said, 'Finally it's going our way.'"
A regulation victory looked imminent for Boston (16-13-3) until Jason Pominville's right skate would produce the 2-2 stalemate at 11:39 in the final period, redirecting a failed chance from Ryan Suter in traffic near the Bruins crease.
Boston until then held the 2-1 advantage despite being outshot 37-25. They would end the extra session on a 4-0 shooting spree.
Erikkson and Soderberg would team up on Boston's first goal. Soderberg's one-timer from the circle would fail to sneak past, but Erikkson would corral the rebound back to the defenseman who fired clean from between the circles.
But Kyle Brodziak would only need 27 seconds to respond for the Wild, firing a slapshot past Niklas Svedberg's right shoulder on a give from Brett Sutter.
Svedberg stopped 35-of-37 shots he faced in net for Boston, securing his first win since Dec. 2. He was under siege in the middle frame as the Wild outshot Boston 20-5, though the rookie Swede would keep the home side off the board in that time.
"He's been good," Julien said of his net-minder. "You want that from your backup goaltender. Your No. 1 is going to play most of the games, so when you need him, he needs to be ready to play, and he was tonight. I thought he made some good saves, he battled with a lot of traffic in front of the net, and again gave us that chance to win."
Patrice Bergeron gave Boston the 2-1 advantage into the first intermission, skating along the near boards over the blue line.
He flicked a prayer that bounced halfway to the goal, sneaking through the space between Niklas Backstrom's right arm and midsection.
"It's nice to get those bounces," Bergeron said afterwards. "We'll definitely take the extra point."
"You definitely want to get back on that winning column and that second point was really important for us," he added. "We definitely talked about it, even before the third period, to find a way and battle. Even though we couldn't do it in the third, we found a way to that point. It's definitely a confidence boost for us."
Boston visits Winnipeg before hosting Buffalo and Nashville before Christmas.
Backstrom stuffed 22-of-25 shots in net for the Wild (16-13-1), who hold a 12-3-1 record against Boston all-time though kick off a four-game homestand in defeat.
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