BOSTON -- Victories over the Wild haven't exactly been plentiful for the Boston Bruins in Minnesota's rather brief NHL history.

So, naturally, Boston couldn't make things easy before escaping with a win on Monday night.

Playing without several key players, including Brad Marchand and David Krejci, the Bruins built a 4-1 lead through two periods and then needed an empty-net goal to salt away a 5-3 victory.

The win lifted Boston to just 7-13-1 -- 3-8-0 at home -- all-time against the Wild, who won both of last year's games via Devan Dubnyk shutouts.

"We made it tough on ourselves again, you know," Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask said after stopping a penalty shot in the third period to help ensure the win. "That one game I was out watching, it was Buffalo (Oct. 21), we blew a 4-1 lead. So you have to learn from those.

"I think we just made it a little hard on ourselves there with the couple mistakes, but it's hockey, it happens. We found a way to win."

After Mikael Granlund cut Boston's lead to 4-2 with a goal 1:33 into the third period, Granlund was tripped by Torey Krug while heading for a short-handed breakaway with 13:05 left in the game. A penalty shot was awarded.

Granlund, whose goal was his first of the season, moved in on Rask on the penalty shot, but the goalie turned the shot aside with his right pad.

"I had no idea what he was going to do. He's got a lot of moves," Rask said.

The save became even more important when Minnesota's Eric Staal scored a short-handed goal with 4:04 remaining to close the gap to one goal.

Boston's Tim Schaller hit an empty net with 56.4 seconds left to put the game away.

Jake DeBrusk, Frank Vatrano, Sean Kuraly and Krug all poured goals past Dubnyk, who was chased after two periods. Dubnyk stopped 20 of the 24 shots he faced. Alex Stalock replaced him and didn't allow a goal on nine shots.

Vatrano, playing because of the injury to Marchand, scored his first goal in 26 regular-season games. (He did score one in the playoffs last year.) His shot was a rather weak one from far out that fooled Dubnyk.

"When you score one, goal-scoring comes in bunches," said Vatrano, a healthy scratch the previous two games. "You can go 10 games without a goal, and then you can have five in your next five, so goal-scoring is a funny thing. You've just got to stay with it. You'll get your chances and hopefully they go in when you get them."

Zdeno Chara (10:03 of ice time in the third period) and Jordan Szwarz had two assists apiece for Boston (6-4-3). Szwarz recorded his first two NHL helpers.

"We prepare for the games. It's just happens that we are missing some guys," said Chara, the Bruins' captain. "But we can't be feeling sorry for ourselves."

Rask (3-4-2) made 24 saves in the win.

Nino Niederreiter gave the Wild (5-6-2) a 1-0 lead with a goal 4:53 into the game as Minnesota opened a four-games-in-six-nights road trip with the loss.

"You saw it, the first two periods we weren't very competitive," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's probably the two most embarrassing periods I've been involved with (on) a lot of teams."

Added Staal: "It's not good enough. ... I just didn't like the way we responded. It's unacceptable. Be mentally tougher."

Boudreau said the move to Stalock for the third period was to get him ready for his next start, likely Wednesday at Toronto.

With a Janet Jackson concert at TD Garden on Sunday and the outside weather 65 degrees and humid Monday, the Wild found the ice soft in their morning skate, and it didn't get any better.

"Wasn't good," Dubnyk said. "I always say with something like that, both teams are playing on the same ice, so you can't use that as anything. They're dealing with it, too, but it was certainly -- it wasn't good up there."

NOTES: The injury-ravaged Bruins placed C David Krejci (back) on injured reserve as he missed his seventh straight game. He won't play for at least another week. ... Boston LW Brad Marchand was also out with an upper body injury and will miss at least the first game of the coming two-game trip, at the New York Rangers Wednesday. ... Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, asked about his own team's spate of injuries, said, "I mean, who are we? Boston has got everybody out. You're not going to hear me complain." ... Boston G Zane McIntyre went down and played for AHL Providence on Sunday and was back on an emergency recall with Anton Khudobin (lower body) still out. ... D Rob O'Gara was recalled by Boston. ... Bruins D Zdeno Chara played in his 833rd game with the team, tying Dit Clapper for fourth place on the club's all-time list.