2 weeks Ago By Jess Myers / St. Paul Pioneer Press
A generation ago, the NHL’s rough-and-tumble Norris Division was home to lunch pail teams from Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Minnesota and Toronto, and hard-fought games between the Maple Leafs and a green and gold-clad team from the Twin Cities were a commonplace occurrence. ADVERTISEMENT With the Minnesota Wild wearing their green and gold sweaters that pay tribute to the North Stars, those popular Norris-dwellers from 40 years ago, the Maple Leafs provided a battle reminiscent of a night at Met Center circa 1978.
In the end, after a seemingly endless array of line rushes, and intercepted passes and deflected pucks that somehow stayed out of the net, Matt Boldy’s overtime goal gave the Wild a 2-1 win in their only meeting with Toronto in Minnesota this season. Although, if the defensive battle of the first 60 minutes was a flashback to the days of disco and Jimmy Carter, the wide-open, 3-on-3 overtime was all 2024. Halfway through the sudden-death session, Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon and all three Maple Leafs who were on the ice chased a puck through the neutral zone.
ADVERTISEMENT Spurgeon won the race, firing the puck up ice to Boldy, who had been left all alone at the blue line. He finished a solo rush to the net by making a few deceptive stick moves then popping the puck high over Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz. “Had a couple breakaways and shot, and none of them have gone in, so I thought I’d change it up a little,” Boldy said.
“But, yeah, just made a move and trusted it.” Toronto had played on Saturday night, and lost, in St. Louis, and the Wild pounced on a seemingly tired group of visitors early, taking a lead on Ryan Hartman’s third goal of the season, after a scramble in front of the Toronto net.
The Maple Leafs tied things on the power play late in the first and dominated long stretches of the second period, forcing Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson to make 11 of his 27 saves on the night. Wild coach John Hynes had a talk with his team about necessary adjustments after 40 minutes. The Wild listened, controlling the play for much of the third period and finding the winner in the extra session.
ADVERTISEMENT “What I continually want to emphasize with the team is the ability to (say) in between periods, ‘Here’s what’s going on, here’s what we need to do’ and the players’ mindset,” Hynes said, after his team improved to 8-1-2. “They’re attentive, they’re ready to execute and I thought in the third period we played a much more connected game.” It was also a night of a few unfriendly reunions among teams that only see each other twice a season, barring a meeting in the Stanley Cup Final.
Former Wild tough guy Ryan Reaves tussled with Hartman in the second period, with both men serving roughing penalties. Former Gophers teammates Matthew Knies (now skating on Toronto’s top line) and Brock Faber (now eating minutes on the Wild blue line) had a few encounters, with Faber thwarting Knies’ power play positioning attempts, and Knies delivering a hard hit on Faber late in the game. ADVERTISEMENT Hartman almost broke up the defensive theme of the night with a highlight reel offering in the second, coming around the back of the net with the puck on his elevated blade and attempting the “Michigan” goal before Maple Leafs defender Simon Benoit thwarted the play.
“That’s the last time I’ll ever attempt that,” Hartman said, then hedged just a little. “It was (close). I kind of rushed it a little bit, panicked.
But first and last time trying it ...
probably.” Toronto got 31 saves from Stolarz and overall seemed delighted to get at least a point and get on a plane bound for Ontario. “We were a little gassed in the third, killed a lot of penalties,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said.
“We were gassed, but (Stolarz) stood tall for us. It was a good point.” ADVERTISEMENT The Wild are off Monday before hosting the Los Angeles Kings on Election Night.
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