NHL: Minnesota 4, Boston 3

ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Eric Belanger scored twice Saturday night to lead the Minnesota Wild's 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins.

Belanger scored on the power play at 18:32 of the first period and his second goal gave Minnesota what turned out to be an insurmountable 4-1 lead at 12:28 of the second.

Marc-Andre Bergeron (power play) and Antti Miettinen scored once each.

Mikko Koivu had two assists, both in the second period, and goalie Niklas Backstrom stopped 34 of 37 Boston shots in Minnesota's seventh consecutive home-opening victory.

Boston got two goals from Marc Savard and one from Phil Kessel. P.J. Axelsson had two assists, and former Wild goalie Manny Fernandez allowed all four goals on 26 shots.

The clubs had not met since March 8, 2007, when the Wild won 2-1 at Boston.