5 hours Ago
The line juggling continued for the Wild, but this time for a different reason. After Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek left injured in the first period, the shorthanded Wild used patchwork combinations to blank the Canadiens 3-0 on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center in their return home from a trip that already had them down a defenseman. Matt Boldy scored his NHL-leading fifth game-winning goal, Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and assist, and goaltender Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves for his first shutout of the season in the Wild’s third win during their last four games.
At 11-2-3, they’re third in the league ahead of hosting the Stars on Saturday in what has the feel of their toughest test of the season — especially if their health doesn’t improve. Zuccarello was the first to exit, with 7 minutes, 8 seconds to go in the first period, after he was struck by a Brock Faber shot that knocked him to the ice before Zuccarello gingerly skated off. Soon after, Eriksson Ek also disappeared; he logged just four shifts.
Neither player returned the rest of the game, both suffering lower-body injuries. Already, the Wild were without Jonas Brodin after the defenseman sustained an upper-body injury last Sunday at Chicago. Brodin is considered day-to-day.
Earlier this week, the Wild recalled defenseman Daemon Hunt and forward Michael Milne, so they do have extras on stand-by. The Wild rallied for a point in that 2-1 overtime loss to the Blackhawks at the end of a three-game road trip after shuffling their lines, the rare 5-on-5 trio of Boldy, Kaprizov and Zuccarello connecting on the game-tying goal. But against Montreal, the Wild had to reconfigure on the fly because they were down to 10 forwards, and they ended a ho-hum first period with just four shots; the Canadiens had only two.
A shorter bench led to a Boldy-Kaprizov reunion, and that’s what helped the Wild finally capitalize. Kaprizov spun for a no-look pass to Marcus Johansson, who handed off to Boldy for a tic-tac-toe one-timer at 12:43 of the second period that sailed by Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault (25 saves). The goal was Boldy’s 10th, which is tied with Kaprizov for the team lead, and his five game-winners are one more than the four Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl has.
Boldy has 12 points in his last 12 games. Gustavsson’s workload didn’t increase much in the second, but he was busier in the third. He turned aside both shots the Canadiens had on the power play early in the second period and was airtight again in the third on Montreal’s second and third tries for a 3-for-3 night for the Wild’s penalty kill.
A retooled Wild power play sans Zuccarello and Eriksson Ek didn’t debut until the third when captain Jared Spurgeon was cut by a high stick, and that’s when the Wild extended their lead. With five seconds left in their four-minute advantage, Marco Rossi flung in a top-shelf shot at 12:19; the power play finished 1-for-3. Kaprizov’s empty-netter with 20 seconds left was his 30th point, which is second in league scoring behind Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.
As for Gustavsson, this was his seventh career shutout. He improved to 8-2-2 to backstop the Wild to their fourth victory in six home games..
