If Matt Boldy was making a case to sit out every preseason from here on out, he might have succeeded.
Matt Boldy, after injury sank his preseason, busts loose in Minnesota Wild’s opening victory over Columbus
Matt Boldy scored the Wild’s first goal of the game and of the 2024-25 season and also had two assists.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 11, 2024 at 5:07AM
“I don’t know if I’d say that,” the winger said, “but it was a good game.”
That’s an understatement.
Boldy led the Wild to a season-opening, 3-2 victory over the Blue Jackets on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center by scoring the first goal, assisting on the next and then setting up the game-winner from Mats Zuccarello — this after Boldy was shelved early in training camp with an injury and missed all six of the team’s preseason tune-ups.
“I don’t think there is a ceiling for that guy,” linemate Marcus Johansson said. “He’s got everything. He’s got the work ethic and the skill and the compete. He’s just got everything. He’s the goal scorer. He’s a passer.
“Like I said, there’s no ceiling for that guy. He can be as good as he wants.”
The Wild are trying to turn back the clock — not to last season, when their atrocious start was the beginning of the end of their playoff hopes, but to two seasons ago, when Boldy and fellow winger Johansson clicked with center Joel Eriksson Ek.
After Johansson arrived for a second stint with the franchise in a deal from Washington, he and Boldy had instant chemistry, combining for a whopping 41 points in 20 games. Johansson looked like the playmaker the Wild needed to balance out their offense, and Boldy went into the postseason as one of the top goal scorers in the NHL since he and Johansson teamed up.
But Eriksson Ek suffered a broken leg late in the regular season, creating a crater in the heart of the team’s lineup, and the Wild were bounced in Round 1 by Dallas in six games.
At the start of last season, the Wild tried to pick up where they left off with the line, which stayed together after Johansson re-signed for two years, but they couldn’t recapture their earlier spark, the team spiraled, and the rest is history.
Once again requiring more scoring depth, the Wild reinstated the Johansson, Eriksson Ek and Boldy trio at training camp, but their reunion was put on hold when Boldy got hurt after only a few days on the ice; the Wild announced he’d be out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
“They gave me a little bit more anxiety,” Boldy said of the timeline. “But it was luckily something not too bad. So, I was able to get going sooner than later.”
Boldy, 23, was back practicing with the team a few days later but didn’t suit up for any preseason action.
Apparently, it wasn’t necessary for his line to debut like it was March 2023 all over again.
Boldy buried a Johansson feed to open the scoring late in the first period, a shot that flew by Eriksson Ek as he set a screen in front of the net. In the second period, all three players factored into a goal, with Boldy getting the puck to Johansson before Johansson found Eriksson Ek cruising into the middle — a pass that was communicated by a mere look.
“I saw his eye,” Eriksson Ek said of Johansson. “So, I knew he knew where I was going.”
That 2-1 Wild lead stretched to 3-1 in the third period when late in a power play Boldy took a handoff from Kirill Kaprizov and flung the puck to the right side for a Zuccarello one-timer that became the game-winner after a late goal from Columbus on its power play.
“It’s hard to score,” said Boldy, whose three-point start puts him one point behind the NHL lead. “I’m sure that there’ll be ups and downs for everyone. It’s not easy. To be able to have guys like Kirill and Zuccy together, who are just one of the best duos in the whole league, they’re hard to beat.
“So, being able to kind of have multiple lines going … you need four lines to win.”
Eriksson Ek is the Wild’s rock, his consistency on offense and defense a rare combination.
Johansson is facing a “revenge” season coming off an 11-goal lull.
“I didn’t feel like myself last year and struggled,” Johansson said. “It was fun to play tonight. I felt like I had my legs back a little bit.”
As for Boldy, he did rebound after having just one goal through his first 12 games.
He finished with 29 (two away from his career high) but had a record 69 points, a surge that suggested Boldy is just scratching the surface of his potential.
“Just watching the end of last year, you could really tell what he’s become and what he’s becoming,” Eriksson Ek said. “I think he’s — I don’t want to pump his tires too much, but I said it before — I think he might be close to 100 points at some point in his career. He’s just so smart and so big and so strong. He loves hockey, too.
“So, it’s just fun to watch him and share the ice with him.”
The Wild went 0-for-4 against Los Angeles and have failed to score in their past 14 power-play opportunities.
