Boldy scores hat trick, Wild defeat Maple Leafs to extend point streak to 10

TORONTO -- Matt Boldy scored a hat trick for the Minnesota Wild, who extended their point streak to 10 games with a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

It was Boldy's second hat trick this season and sixth in the NHL.

“I didn’t think we had our best the first two periods but to come out and find a way to win and play the way we did in the third is obviously the important part,” Boldy said. “It’s nice whether you have a lead or coming back, it doesn’t matter.”

Michael McCarron scored, and Jesper Wallstedt made 26 saves for the Wild (14-3-4), who are 8-0-2 during their point streak and have won seven in a row on the road. Kirill Kaprizov had three assists to extend his point streak to 10 games (six goals, 12 assists).

“In the second period, we gave up self-inflicted bad line changes, some odd-man rushes where we didn’t cover so we had a tightening in between the second and third and I thought the third period we came out much more responsible and disciplined and didn’t give up easy offense,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said.

Zack MacEwen had a goal and an assist, and Auston Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs (8-11-2), who have lost the first five games of a six-game homestand, all in regulation. Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves.

“For the most part, that was a good game,” Stolarz said. “We hung with them, we had a game plan, we executed pretty well. I think right now we are just shooting ourselves in the foot with mistakes. Instead of making tiny mistakes that don’t really hurt us, we are making big ones and they’re ending up in the back of the net. I thought we had a good push at the end, we skated with them for a solid two periods and it’s just those mistakes that are costing us right now.”

After Boldy intercepted a pass from Maple Leafs forward Troy Stecher, he opened the scoring at 17:53 of the first period with a snap shot from the slot off a give-and-go with Kaprizov.

“(Kaprizov) is a superstar for a reason, he does it all,” Boldy said. “It’s so fun to play with him, he always wins pucks, gets it back, makes plays, shoots, he does it all so I’m pretty lucky and fortunate to be on a line with him.”

Matthews tied it 1-1 at 4:05 of the second period. He snuck behind the Wild defense fresh off the bench, took a pass from MacEwen and beat Wallstedt blocker side on a short breakaway.

MacEwen put Toronto up 2-1 at 6:59, burying a wrist shot from the left face-off circle over Wallstedt's blocker.

Boldy evened the score 2-2 with a power-play goal at 9:55. Quinn Hughes fed a pass to Boldy, who put a one-timer through traffic from above the right circle to the blocker side.

Boldy completed the hat trick to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead at 3:59 of the third period, snapping the puck glove side after taking a banked drop pass off the boards from Ryan Hartman and skating to the right dot.

“He always releases it differently,” Wallstedt said of Boldy’s shot. “He tries to give you a read and then do something else. Go for a quick release or a fake. He always manipulates his shot well and he has good power on it.”

McCarron pushed it to 4-2 at 7:34, collecting the rebound of a Blake Coleman shot and chipping the puck over Stolarz's left pad from in front.

“I think it’s been like three of the last four or five where we probably played well enough but it’s not good enough clearly,” Toronto coach Jim Hiller said. “We can’t take moral victories where we are playing close and being in there and losing, we’ve done that too many (times)… Mistakes, miscues, you saw them, they were pretty easy to see.”

Danila Yurov scored an empty-net goal at 19:03 for the 5-2 final.

“I don’t think the first two maybe were our best periods,” Wallstedt said. “It felt like we fell into the game they wanted to play a little bit but still though we know we have the skill, we know we have the players and the structure that we can stay in games, we kept it tight and then came out in the third and played the way we wanted to and just guided it across the finish line. Solid overall but I think we have better than what we showed in the first two periods.”

NOTES: Minnesota forward Joel Eriksson Ek left the game with 11:45 remaining in the second period after colliding with Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe. Hynes said he doesn’t think it’s anything serious but expects to have a better update on Friday. ... Boldy ranks third in Wild franchise history in hat tricks behind Marian Gaborik (nine) and Kaprizov (seven). ... Hughes assisted on Boldy's second goal and extended a point streak to 10 games (four goals, 11 assists) for the third time in his career (also 11 games in 2025-26 and 2023-24). He became the ninth defenseman in NHL history with three career double-digit point streaks. ... Boldy required the fewest games by a Wild player to score multiple hat tricks in a single season and did so in one fewer game than Gaborik (22 games in 2002-03). ... Minnesota tied the second-longest road winning streak in franchise history (also seven games in 2016-17 and 2011-12). ... The Wild have recorded their sixth point streak of 10+ games since 2021-22, the most among all teams during that span and two more than the next closest (Colorado Avalanche and New York Rangers with four). ... Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev was scratched for scheduled maintenance.