Marco Sturm Discusses Special Teams Struggles in Bruins' Loss to Wild

Boston's penalty kill unit gave up two goals in three Minnesota power-play attempts.

Sep 25, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Boston Bruins head coach Marco Sturm looks on from behind the bench against the Washington Capitals during the first period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The biggest challenge the Bruins faced in their 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night was the power play. 

In total, the Bruins were called for three penalties- all in the second period- and the Wild capitalized on two of them. 

Bruins head coach Marco Sturm spoke about the penalty kill struggles after the game. 

“Yeah, it was really tough, especially the second one, because we killed a 5-on-3 against and we lost the face off and all of a sudden it's in your end,” said Sturm. “It feels like it's almost like for nothing, right? So, yeah, special teams probably was the difference today [in] both ways.”

Additionally, Boston had three power play opportunities- one in the second and two in the third- and could not take advantage on any of them. 

The second-year Bruins head coach shared his thoughts behind switching forwards JJ Peterka and Elias Lindholm on the first power-play unit. 

“Yeah, we thought about it even this morning,” said Sturm. “It's just we need our power play. We need them again and these guys [have] been together for a while. With that short training camp, that was not much time we felt like. So, we want to give them a little bit of comfort. Guys should know each other and that's why we changed it.” 

Although special teams struggled, Sturm talked about what he liked from his group on Saturday night. 

“I really liked our 5-on-5 game today,” said Sturm. “We didn't really give them much and our first period was outstanding. So, a lot of good things happened today. It's not easy to come in this building. It’s one of the toughest ones for me personally. Coming here in a back-to-back, [after] Opening Night, guys battled hard. They really did.”

With the loss, the Bruins fell to 2-1-0 on the young season after earning wins over the New York Rangers 3-0 on Opening Night and 4-3 in overtime against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night. 

Following its two-game road trip, Boston will return home to take on the Ottawa Senators on Monday night at TD Garden. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on NESN. 

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