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Rolston, Bouchard lift Wild over Bruins

Mar 9, 2007 - 5:30 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Pierre-Marc Bouchard helped the Minnesota Wild create a logjam in the Western Conference standings.

Bouchard had a goal and an assist and Brian Rolston also tallied as the Wild posted a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins.

Niklas Backstrom made 29 saves for the Wild (37-24-4), who pulled into a tie for sixth in the West with Dallas and Calgary. The Stars (38-23-5) and Flames (36-22-9) both lost Thursday.

The Wild have notched at least a point in 11 of their last 13 contests and are 11-3-2 in their last 16 road games.

"We're trying to play the same way as we do at home," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We try to play as solid as possible defensively, and with the chances we do get, put them in."

Rolston gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 3:59 of the second period, when he took Bouchard's pass and blasted a slap shot from the left faceoff dot over the glove of goaltender Tim Thomas.

The right wing, who snapped a six-game goalless drought, played four-plus seasons with the Bruins before joining the Wild as a free agent following the 2004-05 lockout.

"It was fun to come back here and play," Rolston said. "There were no bad memories here. The organization was always great to me."

Bouchard doubled the advantage nine minutes later, when he skated in on a breakaway and slipped a backhander between Thomas' pads. The goal was his career-high 18th this season. The center scored 17 in 80 games last campaign.

"We were waiting for (Bouchard and Rolston) to step up, and they did tonight," Lemaire said. "I'm pretty happy with the way they played."

Backstrom snapped a two-game losing streak, rebounding from being pulled after allowing three goals on nine second-period shots in a 3-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

Brandon Bochenski scored the lone goal late in the third for the Bruins (32-30-5), who have lost five of seven and remained 12th in the Eastern Conference - four points behind the New York Rangers (33-27-7) for the final postseason berth. Toronto (32-26-9) and idle Carolina (33-28-7) also are four points ahead of Boston.

Thomas stopped 30 shots for Boston, which nearly was shut out for the second straight contest. The Bruins were blanked, 2-0, by the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

"We stayed with it all night, and I think it was better than the Colorado game," Boston center Marc Savard said. "We played with more life tonight and we're still in this. We saw the scoreboard, and everyone ahead of us lost. We're believers in here and we're not going to quit until they kick us out."

Bochenski halved Boston's deficit with 96 seconds left in the third period, banging a rebound past Backstrom.

"I'm going to use a Winston Churchill expression - 'Never surrender,'" Boston coach Dave Lewis said. "We won't surrender."