Boldy's Hat Trick Powers Wild Past Maple Leafs 5-2 in Toronto

TORONTO — Matt Boldy scored a hat trick for the Minnesota Wild, who extended their point streak to 10 games with a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night.

It was Boldy's second hat trick of the season and the sixth of his NHL career, and it arrived exactly when Minnesota needed it most. The Wild trailed early in the second period, steadied themselves, and then took control in the third, scoring the final four goals of the game to turn a tight contest into a comfortable road victory.

Boldy opened the scoring at 17:53 of the first period. After intercepting a pass from Maple Leafs defenseman Troy Stecher, he exchanged passes with Kirill Kaprizov in front of the net and flicked a snap shot from the slot over the glove of Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz.

Toronto answered quickly after the break. Auston Matthews tied the game 1-1 at 4:05 of the second period, sneaking behind the Wild defense fresh off the bench, taking a pass from Zack MacEwen and beating Minnesota goaltender Jesper Wallstedt blocker side on a short breakaway. Less than three minutes later, MacEwen put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-1 at 6:59, burying a wrist shot from the left face-off circle over Wallstedt's blocker.

The lead lasted barely three minutes. Boldy evened the score 2-2 with a power-play goal at 9:55 of the second period, taking a feed from Quinn Hughes and blasting a one-timer through traffic from above the right circle to the blocker side.

"I didn't think we had our best the first two periods but to come out and find a way to win and play the way we did in the third is obviously the important part," Boldy said. "It's nice whether you have a lead or coming back, it doesn't matter."

Minnesota coach John Hynes pointed to the same shift in the game. He said his team gave up self-inflicted bad line changes and odd-man rushes in the second period, then tightened up between periods and returned for the third far more responsible and disciplined.

Boldy completed the hat trick to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead at 3:59 of the third period, snapping the puck glove side after taking a banked drop pass off the boards from Ryan Hartman and skating to the right dot. The goal came after Maple Leafs winger William Nylander and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson got their wires crossed off the rush, opening a clear lane for the Wild winger to attack.

Michael McCarron pushed the lead to 4-2 at 7:34 of the third, collecting the rebound of a Blake Coleman shot and chipping the puck over Stolarz's left pad from in front of the net. Danila Yurov scored an empty-net goal at 19:03 for the 5-2 final, sealing a win that had looked far from certain midway through the second period.

Kaprizov finished with three assists and extended his point streak to 10 games, during which he has six goals and 12 assists. Hughes assisted on Boldy's second goal and extended a point streak of his own to 10 games, with four goals and 11 assists in that span, for the third time in his career. He became the ninth defenseman in NHL history with three career double-digit point streaks.

Wallstedt made 26 saves to earn his league-leading 13th win of the season. Stolarz stopped 21 shots for Toronto and said the Maple Leafs hung with Minnesota and executed their game plan for much of the night, but kept shooting themselves in the foot with mistakes that ended up in the back of the net.

The win moved the Wild to 14-3-4. They are 8-0-2 during their 10-game point streak and have now won seven games in a row on the road, tying the second-longest road winning streak in franchise history.

Boldy now ranks third in Wild franchise history in hat tricks, behind Marian Gaborik with nine and Kaprizov with seven. He also required the fewest games by a Wild player to score multiple hat tricks in a single season, doing so in one fewer game than Gaborik needed in 2002-03.

For Toronto, the defeat extended a miserable run. The Maple Leafs fell to 8-11-2 and have lost the first five games of a six-game homestand, all in regulation, to move to 1-7-0 over their last eight games. Toronto coach Jim Hiller said his team has played well enough to win in three of its last four or five games but that moral victories are not enough.

Minnesota also finished the game without top-line center Joel Eriksson Ek, who left with 11:45 remaining in the second period after colliding with Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe and needed assistance getting off the ice. Hynes said he does not think the injury is anything serious but expects to have a better update on Friday. Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev was scratched for scheduled maintenance.

The Wild finish their road trip in Boston on Saturday against the Bruins, carrying the league's longest active point streak. Toronto, meanwhile, stays home to continue a homestand that has so far delivered only frustration, with a team that believes it is playing well enough to win now needing to prove it before the slide hardens into a season-defining problem.