Matt Boldy notched his first career hat trick as the Minnesota Wild downed the Detroit Red Wings 7-4 on Monday in Saint Paul, Minn.
Boldy, a 20-year-old rookie who entered the night with four goals on the season, also had an assist. Kirill Kaprizov supplied two goals and an assist for Minnesota, and Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist. Ryan Hartman also scored, Mats Zuccarello notched three assists and Jared Spurgeon collected two assists.
Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 30 shots for the Wild, who are 11-1-1 in their past 13 games.
Third-year player Gustav Lindstrom scored his first career goal for Detroit. Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist. Lucas Raymond and Sam Gagner also scored for Detroit, and Moritz Seider and Tyler Bertuzzi each had two assists. Alex Nedeljkovic made 18 saves.
The teams combined for four goals in the first eight-plus minutes.
Larkin scored his 25th just 1:27 into the contest, firing the puck past Kahkonen after a defenseman fell down. Seider was credited with an assist.
Lindstrom got his breakthrough goal with a shot from the point at 4:01 for a 2-0 lead. Bertuzzi and Marc Staal had the assists.
Boldy scored his first goal of the game with a spin move into the slot at 5:29. Kevin Fiala and Frederick Gaudreau were credited with assists.
Boldy’s second goal came on a power play when he tipped in a Zuccarello shot. Spurgeon picked up the secondary assist.
Kaprizov made it 3-2 Wild at 4:54 of the second period with a blast from the left circle. Zuccarello set up the play with a backward pass.
Boldy’s hat trick was achieved at 18:13 of the period on another power play. His shot from the side of the net bounced off the goalpost and Nedeljkovic’s backside before crossing the goal line. Spurgeon and Zuccarello had the assists.
The Wild extended their lead to 5-2 on another power-play goal eight minutes into the third period. Eriksson Ek tipped in a Brody shot for his 14th goal.
Raymond ripped a one-timer off a Larkin pass on a Red Wings power play to cut the deficit to 5-3 at 9:43 of the third. With the Red Wings’ net empty, Gagner made it a one-goal game with 1:46 remaining.
Kaprizov’s empty-netter gave the Wild some breathing room at 19:11, and Hartman scored with 15 seconds left.
–Field Level Media
