Game Recap: Wild 5, Canucks 2

Matt Boldy and Ryan Hartman each scored twice and the Minnesota Wild clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday.

Boldy added an assist for three points, Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist, and Mats Zuccarello had two assists for the Wild (42-22-11), who had alternated wins and losses for eight straight games but were refreshed after getting four days between games. 

“It's probably the best game we played in a while,” Boldy said. “I think everyone was a part of it, guys playing to their identity, making plays, playing hard, making it hard on their (defense), and for us playing in the o-zone that was huge, just wearing them down.”

Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves for his 100th win with Minnesota.

“It's always fun to go back into the playoffs,” Gustavsson said. “As long as you get there, you have a chance to win it all. Now you just kind of focus and get ready for it.” 

Gustavsson, who is in his fourth season in Minnesota, became just the fourth goalie to reach the milestone with the Wild. 

“I feel like with the Wild I got my breakthrough,” he said. “I got a lot more starts and I got more success and it's so much fun to play here and I hope there's many more to come.”

Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes was plus-4 with one assist in his first game against his former team. The Canucks traded their captain and all-time highest scoring defenseman to Minnesota on Dec. 12 after seven-plus seasons for defenseman Zeev Buium, forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

“Definitely a little weird, but you move on and happy to be here right now,” said Hughes. 

Hughes assist was his 46th in 43 games with the Wild, a new single-season team record for defensemen in 35 fewer games than the 78 it took Ryan Suter to reach 45 in 2017-18. He has 50 points already in Minnesota, becoming the fastest player to reach that mark ahead of Brian Rolston (49 games) and the fastest defenseman ahead of Suter (83 games).

“The more time you have with the guys, you're going to be more comfortable and that process isn't done,” Hughes said. “I think it will continue to grow and I'm just trying to hit my stride for playoffs, and I think the whole team's trying to do that too.”

Tom Willander and Jake DeBrusk scored 42 seconds apart, and Nikita Tolopilo made 34 saves for the last-place Canucks (22-45-8), who were coming off an 8-6 win at the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday that ended a six-game losing streak. Vancouver hasn’t won consecutive games since winning four in a row through Dec. 20.

“We had a great effort, especially back to back against two good teams like that,” Canucks coach Adam Foote said. “That's a big, heavy playoff team built to go. They’ve got some explosive offensive players, but powerful as well, and they're just heavy throughout, and I thought the guys competed to the wire with them.” 

Minnesota went up 1-0 at 8:32 of the first period after Joel Eriksson Ek knocked a clearing attempt out of the air inside the blue line, setting up a 2-on-1 that Boldy finished by keeping the puck and snapping it between Tolopilo’s pads from inside the bottom of the left circle. It was Boldy’s first goal in eight games.

Willander tied it 1-1 with the teams playing 4-on-4 at 16:00 after Teddy Blueger’s shot from above the left circle bounced hard off the end boards and came out to Willander on the other side before Gustavsson could get across.

DeBrusk made it 2-1 on the power play at 16:42, batting the puck out of the air behind Gustavsson after Filip Hronek hit the cross bar on a one-timer from the point.

“Kind of got lucky where I was on the ice, but it was nice to cash in,” DeBrusk said.

Boldy reached 40 goals for the first time in the NHL on a breakaway 23 seconds into the second period to tie it 2-2, sending a wrist shot past the glove of Tolopilo after Buium whiffed on a cross-ice pass at the far blue line.

“It's been a pretty good year with the puck following me, playing with great linemates, a great power play, and creating chances and I'm just happy to see them go in,” Boldy said. 

Kaprizov put the Wild ahead 3-2 with his 40th of the season at 6:08 after intercepting a pass from defenseman Elias Pettersson along the boards in the Canucks end. Kaprizov passed immediately across the ice to Zuccarello atop the left circle and then one-timed the quick return feed past a sprawling Tolopilo from below the right face-off dot.

It’s the first time in team history the Wild have multiple 40-goal scorers.

“For them to have a healthy competition, I always think that's positive, particularly the way that they've handled it,” coach John Hynes said.

Hartman made it 4-2 at 6:03 of the third period by deflecting a Zuccarello point shot past Tolopilo from the edge of the crease, and scored his second into an empty net at 18:52 for the 5-2 final.

It’s the sixth straight game Vancouver has given up four or more goals. 

“I liked our first and then they responded with a good second period, and good teams do that and they just kind of rolled from there,” DeBrusk said. “We just got to keep grinding.” 

NOTES: Boldy and Kaprizov are the first teammates in 31 years to reach the 40-goal mark in the same game, following Theo Fleury and Robert Reichel with Calgary on April 13, 1994. … DeBrusk has scored 15 of his 18 goals this season on the power play. … Willander has 20 points (five goals, 15 assists), becoming the first Canucks rookie defenseman to reach that mark since Hughes had 53 in 2019-20.