Boldy gets first hat trick, Wild hold off Red Wings

MINNESOTA -- Matt Boldy had his first NHL hat trick for the Minnesota Wild in a 7-4 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Xcel Energy Center on Monday.

The 20-year-old rookie, who also had an assist, has scored 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 13 games this season.
"It's crazy, for sure," Boldy said. "You definitely soak it in as much as you can, but you don't want to make too much of it, I guess. Just kind of build off each night and, obviously, this is a big night for me. So hopefully just bring that into Wednesday against Winnipeg and kind of use that to build confidence and keep playing well."
Kirill Kaprizov had two goals and an assist, and Mats Zuccarello had three assists for Minnesota (30-11-3), which has won eight of its past nine games and is 12-0-1 in its past 13 at Xcel Energy Center. Kaapo Kahkonen made 30 saves.
"It's scary the depth that I think that we have," Wild forward Jordan Greenway said. "We can rely on everyone for different things, whether it's getting on the score sheet or locking down another line, whatever the case is. We can rely on pretty much everyone, so that's definitely a good feeling and it's going to be good for us going down the stretch for sure."

Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Bertuzzi and Moritz Seider each had two assists for Detroit (22-22-6), which had won two straight. Alex Nedeljkovic made 18 saves.
"I think it was a game we could have won," Larkin said. "I'm shaking my head right now. It's not a good feeling. We understand the position we're in. We know we're not going to win every game, but I really felt it was a game we could have won tonight."
The Red Wings took an early lead after scoring on two of their first three shots.
Larkin made it 1-0 at 1:27 of the first period. Following a turnover by Zuccarello, Larkin skated through the neutral zone and cut in on a partial breakaway after Jordie Benn fell down in the Wild's zone.
Gustav Lindstrom scored his first NHL goal with a wrist shot from just inside the blue line to increase the lead 2-0 at 4:01.
"What are you going to do, yell at them, tell them to settle down?" Wild coach Dean Evason said. "Our group wasn't overly excited, they weren't down. We had a lot of real good play everywhere. We trusted them to figure it out."
Boldy cut it to 2-1 at 5:29, pivoting around Red Wings defenseman Marc Staal before shooting glove side from the low slot.
Boldy then tied the game 2-2 at 8:04 with a power-play goal, redirecting a pass from Zuccarello in the slot.
"I thought the game early was real loose," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "Certainly there was a lot of chances flying around both ways without teams necessarily having to earn it. They were able to get to their game better than we were as the game went along."
Kaprizov gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead at 4:54 of the second period. Zuccarello dropped a loose puck at the top of the zone for Kaprizov, who worked a give-and-go before scoring with a one-timer from the left circle.

Boldy completed the hat trick with a power-play goal to make it 4-2 at 18:13. He chipped a pass from Jared Spurgeon that deflected off the right post before going in off the back of Nedeljkovic's right pad.
Joel Eriksson Ek extended the lead to 5-2 at 8:00 of the third period when he redirected a pass from Boldy on the power play.
"It was a great pass," Eriksson Ek said. "[Boldy] had an amazing game. You can see how good he is and how smart he is and how he uses his stick to protect the puck. Him being so young and being so strong is amazing. It's great for our team to get a player like that."
Lucas Raymond got the Red Wings to within 5-3 at 9:43 with a one-timer from the left circle on the power play.
With the Nedeljkovic on the bench for the extra skater, Sam Gagner cut it to 5-4 at 18:14 when he shot into an open net after Robby Fabbri's initial shot hit the right post.
"We battled," Larkin said. "We got our first 6-on-5 goal in a while and it was our best 6-on-5 play that we've had. We had the puck and generated chances and attacked the net. So we hung in there, but it was too little, too late."
Kaprizov shot into an empty net to make it 6-4 at 19:11, and Ryan Hartman scored on a 2-on-1 at 19:45 for the 7-4 final.
NOTES:Boldy is the fourth rookie in Wild history to register a hat trick, joining Justin Fontaine (Jan. 9, 2014), Kaprizov (March 12, 2021), and Rem Pitlick (Nov. 13, 2021). His four points are the most by a rookie in Minnesota history. … Red Wings defenseman Nick Leddy was minus-2 in 20:29 of ice time in his return after missing three games with an upper-body injury. … Detroit forward Vladislav Namestnikov did not play and is day to day with a lower-body injury. … Givani and Gemel Smith played together for the first time in the NHL. It's also the first time brothers have played together for the Red Wings since Frank and Pete Mahovlich in 1969.