St. Louis Blues vs Minnesota Wild — Recap

📰Game Recap

Matt Boldy's hat trick powered the Minnesota Wild to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues, with the Wild building a significant lead before holding off a late St. Louis rally. St. Louis opened the scoring at 1:45 of the first period when Jonatan Berggren, assisted by Cam Fowler and Dalibor Dvorsky, made it 1-0. Minnesota quickly responded, tying the game at 7:31 with Matt Boldy's first goal, assisted by Quinn Hughes and Joel Eriksson Ek. Danila Yurov then gave the Wild a 2-1 lead at 11:17, assisted by Maxim Shabanov and Yakov Trenin, a lead they carried into the second period while outshooting the Blues significantly.

The Blues evened the score early in the second at 4:57 with Mason McTavish's goal, assisted by Pius Suter and Colton Parayko, making it 2-2. However, Minnesota then seized control of the game. Boldy scored his second of the night just 27 seconds later at 5:24, with assists from Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov. Kaprizov extended the lead to 4-2 at 8:47, assisted by Quinn Hughes and Boldy, and Boldy completed his hat trick at 16:47, assisted by Kaprizov and Michael McCarron, giving the Wild a commanding 5-2 advantage heading into the final period.

St. Louis mounted a furious comeback attempt in the third period. Robert Thomas, assisted by Cam Fowler, cut the deficit to 5-3 at 16:00. Dylan Holloway then scored with 15 seconds remaining in regulation, assisted by Thomas and Fowler, to make it 5-4. Despite the late push, Minnesota maintained its lead. Jesper Wallstedt earned the win for the Wild, stopping 21 of 25 shots, while Joel Hofer made 33 saves on 38 shots for the Blues. Cam Fowler's three assists and Robert Thomas's goal and assist highlighted the St. Louis offense.

The Wild's record improved to 4-2-1, while the Blues fell to 3-2-1. SportsFBI's pregame model had leaned towards St. Louis at 50%, a prediction that did not materialize.