Despite all that, after Zidlicky pulled his stick back halfway and ripped off a slapper, Blake Wheeler still thought he had a chance at disrupting the play.
"I was surprised he got it through," said Wheeler. "I thought I was right in the lane. He got it by my foot. It just had eyes. It got all the way to the net.
"Those are the kinds of goals you need to score in a game like this. They got it done. They had great traffic in front of the net and Manny never saw it. Credit to them for getting in front of the net."
Zidlicky's laser at 7:29 was the only goal in the Bruins' 1-0 loss to the Wild before 16,272 at TD Banknorth Garden last night. The Bruins, who fell to the Sabres Saturday by a 4-2 score, have lost back-to-back matches for the first time this season, although given the way they competed last night and put pressure on Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom, they weren't about to call this a crisis.
"You don't panic," said coach Claude Julien. "I don't think anybody thought we were going to be flying the way we were flying for 82 games without going through some bumps and bruises."
An opportunistic club, Minnesota needed only one break, and that was the second-period holding penalty on Milan Lucic.
"I think we had some tough calls go against us," said Julien, whose team generated only two shots on two power plays while allowing 10 man-advantage attempts.
But the Bruins tipped their hats to the Wild, who played their clog-'em-up, defense-first game to perfection after taking the lead. They took away the center of the rink. They sat back and prevented the Bruins from creating odd-man rushes. They collapsed in the slot to take away time and space from the Boston shooters. And when all else failed, Backstrom (28 saves) bailed them out when the Bruins broke through.
"Personally, I wouldn't pay to see a game like that," said Fernandez (23 saves), who lost on home ice for the first time this season (9-1-0). "It gets frustrating. We're used to a different game here.
