ST. PAUL — Loui Eriksson may not have many more games in a Bruins uniform.

But the unrestricted free agent-to-be made sure to hit a significant threshold while wearing Black and Gold. At 6:58 of Saturday’s third period, Eriksson scored his 200th career goal to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead. It was the winning goal in the Bruins’ 4-2 victory over the Wild.

“It’s pretty cool,’’ Eriksson said of the milestone. “I remember when I scored my first goal in Colorado. It was a pretty cool feeling. Now I’m at 200 goals. It was definitely nice to get that and get the win.’’

Eriksson has been one of coach Claude Julien’s most versatile players. He’s played both wings. He’s been good as the net-front presence on the No. 1 power-play unit. He’s killed penalties. For the last two games, Julien has deployed Eriksson, who has a top-six skill set, as the No. 3 left wing.

Following Tuesday’s 9-2 drubbing against Los Angeles, Julien wanted to stabilize third-liners Ryan Spooner and Jimmy Hayes by putting Eriksson on their line. Eriksson did just that in Thursday’s 6-2 win over Winnipeg. Against Minnesota, Eriksson played 18:53, third-most among team forwards, while serving as Joonas Kemppainen’s left wing following Spooner’s promotion to the first line in place of Patrice Bergeron.

“Being able to put him on that line with Spoons, it just gives more confidence to a young centerman knowing he’s got a real reliable guy with him,’’ Julien said. “For us, we feel Loui is very capable of being a good leader and taking charge of that line, which he’s done no matter who we’ve put in the middle there.’’

Kemppainen back up

Kemppainen had never played in the AHL before his assignment to Providence on Feb. 5. During his three-game stretch in Providence, the 27-year-old was not disappointed with the quality of play.

“I think it was a little bit better than I thought,’’ said Kemppainen, recalled on Friday because of Bergeron’s status. “There are a lot of good young players. They have skill and speed. It’s not so structured.’’

Kemppainen played in his first NHL game since Jan. 26, getting 13:27 of ice time as the No. 3 center between Eriksson and Hayes. Kemppainen didn’t land a shot on goal. But he had two attempts blocked and missed with a third. He did not hesitate to try things with the puck in the offensive zone, which he had been slow to do before his demotion.

“I thought Kemppainen came in and did a really good job,’’ said Julien. “He played hard. He was a solid centerman for us. I saw a difference in his forecheck and getting involved more on the offensive side of things.’’

Kemppainen went 0-0—0 in three AHL games while landing one shot on net. The visit to Providence was like most of his first NHL season: a mixed bag.

The Bruins liked Kemppainen’s down-low game, defensive-zone coverage, and strength on the draw in the first part of the season. But in December, Kemppainen’s game got sidetracked because of an upper-body injury that knocked him for 11 games.

After returning to full health, Kemppainen looked hesitant when the puck was on his stick. He did not produce as the third-line center when Krejci was out. He remained in the middle on the No. 3 line upon Krejci’s return and Spooner’s audition as a top-six wing.

After being a healthy scratch for two games, the Bruins sent him to Providence to regain his confidence. For at least one game, it looked like the plan worked.

Yeo fired

The Wild fired coach Mike Yeo after the game, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The loss was the team’s seventh in a row and the Wild dropped to 1-11-2 in their last 14 games. Yeo was 173-132-44 in five seasons behind the Minnesota bench. “I’m a realist,’’ Yeo said before his dismissal. “You can’t lose every game and expect to think there’s not going to be changes. I’m operating under the assumption that I’ll be the coach tomorrow. I know what I’m going to do, and it’s going to be something different from what we’ve done.’’ . . . Julien earned his 500th NHL win. He now has 381 wins behind the Bruins’ bench, six short of Art Ross’s record of 387. “Every time somebody goes down, an important player or not, he knows how to make his players play their best hockey,’’ Krejci said. “That’s what he did. Five hundred wins, congrats to him. That’s a big number.’’ . . . David Pastrnak replaced Bergeron as the bumper on the No. 1 power-play unit and played 6:50 of his 16:40 on the power play . . . Tuukka Rask should be in net against Detroit on Sunday after getting a day off against the Wild . . . Colin Miller and Landon Ferraro were the healthy scratches.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto.