By Canadian Press

Matt Boldy scores twice for Minnesota Wild in 5-2 win over Calgary Flames

Dec 5, 2023 | 9:11 PM

CALGARY — Matt Boldy scored twice and had an assist for the Minnesota Wild in a 5-2 win Tuesday over the host Calgary Flames.

Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist with Marcus Foligno and Joel Eriksson Ek also scoring for the Wild (9-10-4) who improved to 4-0-0 since Jon Hynes replaced Dean Evason as head coach Nov. 27.

Minnesota has outscored its opponents 18-5 in the four games since the coaching change. Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson had 28 saves to improve to a career 4-0-1 versus Calgary.

Connor Zary and Mikael Backlund scored for Calgary (10-12-3).

The Flames revealed earlier Tuesday that goaltender Jacob Markstrom was week-to-week with a fractured finger on his right blocker hand. He was injured in Monday’s practice.

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Calgary’s Dan Vladar stopped 13 of 16 shots in just over a period of work. He was replaced by AHL call-up Dustin Wolf, who turned away 11 of 13.

Minnesota led 2-0 just 45 seconds into the second period and 3-0 at 90 seconds when Wolf drew in for Vladar. Backlund countered for the hosts at 6:49 when he redirected MacKenzie Weegar’s shot from the blue line. 

Boldy’s second of the game at 13:58 restored the visitors’ three-goal lead heading into the third period.

Zary redirected an Ilya Solovyov shot to score at 1:37 of the third period, but Eriksson Ek countered at 6:49 when Nazem Kadri slid into his teammate Wolf as the Swede shot the puck.

Boldy deflected Kaprizov’s shot far corner for a power-play goal and his second of the second period. He whipped the puck over Vladar’s glove at 1:30 after Kaprizov tucked in a rebound off Marco Rossi’s shot off the post.

Mats Zuccarello’s assist on Kaprizov’s goal was the Norwegian’s career 600th. The 36-year-old extended his point streak to 10 games with three goals and 11 assists in that span.

Wolf repelled four shots during a Minnesota power play shortly after coming into the game. He also stoned Brandon Duhaime on a short-handed breakaway in the second period.

A sluggish start and six giveaways in the first 20 minutes had Calgary leaning heavily on Vladar. Minnesota outshot the hosts 13-5 in the first period and led 1-0 by 1:26 after scoring on their first shot of the game

After deking Solovyov, Foligno’s shot that came out of the net quickly wasn’t signalled a goal until half a minute later when both teams were in Minnesota’s end.

 UP NEXT

The Flames host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

The Wild stay on the road for a back-to-back Thursday game against the Vancouver Canucks and Friday tilt against the Edmonton Oilers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2023.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press