In St Paul, Matt Boldy scored in regulation for the Wild and was credited with the game-winner over the Calgary Flames on penalties for a 3-2 win to the Wild on Thursday night.
“Played well again,” Boldy said. “Guys are going, playing well. It’s just good to win. You’ve got a group of guys that work hard every night. [A lot of] desperation to win to get that kind of streak going and stuff like that, so a lot of credit to other guys.”
Filip Gustavsson made 35 saves in the win.
“It hit my arm, and then I just tried to keep my arm tight there in coverage,” Gustavsson said. “But you can’t see, you never know. That’s what you have to do sometimes.”
Minnesota improved to 11-12-4. It was their sixth win in eight matches under new coach John Hynes.
“Thought it was a really strong team game for us,” Hynes said. “…When you can play a really compact, strong team game, it gives you the best chance to win. Our [defense] core played really well, we played well as a five-man unit. I think when you can play with structure, everybody contributes, it gives you a chance to win.
Boldy staked the Wild to a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza on a strike at 4:42.
Calgary replied with a power play marker from Yegor Sharangovich at 13:18 to tie the game, 1-1.
After a scoreless middle frame, Blake Coleman scored at 4:13 of third to give the Flames a 2-1 advantage.
“This was a good game, probably for both sides I would say,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “I thought we had a slow first 10 minutes, but then I liked our game from that point forward. I felt like we deserved the extra point tonight.”
The Flames dropped to 11-14-5 off their third straight loss.
“When they score a quick one, we got to find ways to not have those quick responses on us after going up in games,” Coleman said. “It’s another lead we felt like we should have come out of here with two points.”
Marco Rossi made short work of the Calgary lead when he scored 45 seconds after the Coleman goal for a 2-2 tie.
Dan Vladar made 30 saves in the loss.
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