The Wild dominating early and then losing control — and manpower — before nonchalantly recovering to go full circle against the St. Louis Blues shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
Wild rally to upstage Blues 6-4 and pick up fourth victory in a row
Matt Boldy delivered the final go-ahead goal 3 minutes, 57 seconds into the third period to break a 4-4 tie after a Jake Middleton equalizer only 1:16 into the period in the defenseman’s return from injury.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 8, 2025 at 6:33AM
That’s been the trajectory of their season to date.
They appropriately put a bow on the first half by following the script that got them here, their 6-4 rally Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center that extended their winning streak to four games and solidified their top-five seeding in the NHL at the midway point very much the Wild in a nutshell.
“You can go one of two ways when you hit adversity, and we’re choosing to rise to the occasion,” defenseman Zach Bogosian said. “That’s what we need to do.”
After losing another key defenseman to injury and then blowing a two-goal lead by giving up four in a row, including three in a 3-minute, 9-second meltdown, the Wild gave St. Louis a taste of its own medicine: They scored four straight to upstage their Central Division rival with their fifth third-period comeback.
Matt Boldy delivered the final go-ahead goal 3:57 into the third period to snap a 4-4 tie after a Jake Middleton equalizer only 1:16 into the period in the defenseman’s return from injury.
Marcus Johansson, who also had an assist, drained an empty-netter from the Wild’s side of center with 36 seconds to go.
At 26-11-4 and with 56 points, the Wild are only two points back of the first-place Winnipeg Jets.
“Everyone’s feeling good,” Middleton said. “Confidence, we talk about that a lot, if we could buy it, we’d all be tremendous. But we’ve earned it up to now halfway through the year, and we’re feeling good about it.”
In a nod to the first 2½ months of the season when the Wild creamed most of their competition, they blitzed the Blues just after the opening faceoff.
Middleton funneled the puck to Bogosian for a point shot at 1:23 by goalie Jordan Binnington. Only 49 seconds later, Jon Merrill posted his first goal against a scrambling Binnington, who had dropped his stick earlier in the play after a collision with Mats Zuccarello that didn’t merit a whistle.
These were the third-fastest pair of goals (2:12) to begin a game in Wild history.
But like that mid-December swoon when the Wild were gutted with injuries, St. Louis pushed back after Brock Faber (upper body) left and didn’t return.
Coach John Hynes didn’t have an update on Faber after the game.
With 6:34 remaining in the first period, Pavel Buchnevich capitalized off the rush.
Then in the second, the Blues pulled even just seven seconds into their first and only power play when Jordan Kyrou wired a puck through traffic from the left side at 1:24. (The Wild didn’t receive a single power play and just before St. Louis’ tying goal, Zuccarello had a shot swiped off the goal line by the Blues’ Colton Parayko.)
“They made some nice plays, but we had some breakdowns,” Hynes said.
Another quick transition by St. Louis that stretched out the Wild was buried by Jake Neighbours to break the 2-2 tie at 2:51. By 4:33, Robert Thomas doubled that lead, stuffing the puck by Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson at the near post after a frazzled-looking Wild couldn’t clear the zone.
That chased Gustavsson, who finished with 14 saves. Marc-Andre Fleury made 15 stops in relief.
“It wasn’t so much Gus, and I told him that,” Hynes said. “We were in a little bit of a lull, and they had momentum. [There] wasn’t a lot going on in the game for us, the energy level of the team, and it seemed like it might be the right time to do it. But then obviously it’s a great decision because Flower comes in and plays great. So, it’s on Flower, not me.”
The Wild were better the rest of the period, with Joel Eriksson Ek flinging in a puck off Ryan Hartman’s second assist of the night to preview the team’s fourth multi-goal turnaround.
Middleton, who hadn’t played since getting hit with a shot on his right hand Dec. 12 vs. the Edmonton Oilers, wristed in a turnover forced by Zuccarello — this after Middleton was denied during a 2-on-0 rush with Boldy earlier.
“Changeup. Missed it. Went in. It worked out well,” Middleton said.
Zuccarello also set up the game-winner by Boldy, passing off to Boldy during a 2-on-1 against the Blues’ Philip Broberg after Broberg broke his stick.
“I expect the pass if he had four sticks,” Boldy said. “Yeah, I got ready for it.”
Boldy’s seven game-winning goals are second in the NHL, and his latest stood up because of how relentlessly the Wild defended in the waning minutes: With 3:20 left, St. Louis pulled Binnington, who had 20 saves, for an extra attacker, and Jonas Brodin had three of his four shot blocks during a marathon 2:41 shift. One wind-up from Parayko caught him on the right skate, but Brodin (who also picked up an assist) said he felt good.
The 33:02 Brodin logged was a career high and the second-most ice time in an NHL game this season.
“The guys battled so hard, blocking shots, coming back, helping in the zone,” Fleury said. “They made my job easier, for sure.”
The resilience needed for a rebound like this has been run-of-the-mill for the Wild for the past few weeks.
Without Kirill Kaprizov, who’s dealing with a lower-body injury, they’re 5-1 and the Wild have yet to lose since captain Jared Spurgeon was also sidelined with a lower-body injury.
“We fight the panic,” Middleton said. “We keep talking about that next-man-up mentality, but it’s true. Our depth and whoever’s in the lineup, they’re producing and they’re playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played, and it’s giving us good outcomes at the end of the games.”
This is who the Wild are after 41 games.
Staying true to that identity for the next 41 is their challenge.
“A year ago this time, we probably didn’t have players step up the way they’ve stepped up this year, and that’s a credit to the players,” Hynes said. “You can have strong structure and they have good details, but the players are really playing hard for each other for the team and doing what’s required to win.
“Whether it’s blocking the shot or trying to score a goal or playing a 50-50 shift, whatever that is, the guys are committed to play the right way for each other, and we’re finding ways to win.”
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings' home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area.
