Boldy has goal, assist to lift Wild to 2-1 win over Oilers
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Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist, Freddy Gaudreau also scored, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 Monday night.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 20 shots for his 10th win of the season for the Wild, who have won eight of 11. It is the 18th time in his career that Fleury has reached double-digit wins, tying Patrick Roy and Terry Sawchuk for second all-time behind Martin Brodeur (20).
Connor McDavid had an assist on Zach Hyman’s goal for the Oilers, but his career-best seven-game goal-scoring streak ended. Stuart Skinner finished with 28 saves for Edmonton, which lost for just the third time in nine games.
“They’re dangerous. Of course, we all know that. So it was good. We played our game and when we do that, we’re a tough team to beat defensively,” Gaudreau said.
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In addition to stopping McDavid in the final seconds as the Wild were killing a 6-on-4 power play for the final 51.3 seconds, Fleury had a big save about 7 minutes into the third period when he stopped Darnell Nurse’s shot as part of a 3-on-1 with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl after a giveaway by Matt Dumba.
“There were some chances across the goal line there, give them credit, they checked harder then,” Nurse said of the frantic final seconds.
Minnesota allowed two power-play goals in three chances in Friday’s 5-2 loss in Edmonton and knew a surge was coming.
“We were scared to death. Like scared to death. You give Connor McDavid and Draisaitl and the rest of their power play an opportunity … But how we played that whatever close to a minute was great,” said Wild coach Dean Evason. “Our commitment, our grit, our desire to get pucks and win those puck battles was real good.”
The Oilers’ league-best power play finished 1 for 5 after going 4 for 8 in its previous two games and 8 for 17 in the previous five.
“We generated numerous looks out there. Even at the end I think one went through the wickets,” coach Jay Woodcroft said.
Minnesota allowed five goals in three straight games before Filip Gustavsson made 35 saves while blanking Vancouver on Saturday, and then allowed just one goal to the Oilers, fifth in the league at 3.64 goals per game.
“I think we played a great game in Vancouver, Gus obviously played a great game and got the shutout, then tonight we didn’t give them too many shots or too many chances. That was a big difference,” Fleury said.
Playing each other for the third time in 12 days, the former Northwest Division rivals traded power-play goals in the first period.
Boldy redirected a pass from Kirill Kaprizov for a 1-0 Wild lead with 7:24 left.
Just 1:25 later, Hyman outmuscled Jared Spurgeon for a rebound to tie it. Minnesota unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference. The tally, his 10th of the season, ended a nine-game goal drought for Hyman, who plays with McDavid and Draisaitl. It also extends his consecutive games with a point to seven.
Left alone at the left edge, Gaudreau redirected Boldy’s pass for a 2-1 lead at 9:39 of the second. It came a couple minutes after a goal by Dumba was nullified when Edmonton successfully challenged that Minnesota was offside entering the zone.
Nice company
Boldy had his sixth multipoint game of the season and 15th overall. Per NHL Stats, only Marian Gaborik (43) recorded more with the Wild before age 22.
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McDavid’s assist on Hyman’s goal gave him a league-best 30 assists. ... Wild RW Mats Zuccarello had an assist on Boldy’s goal and has 10 consecutive seasons with at least 20 assists.
Up next
Oilers: At Nashville on Tuesday night.
Wild: Home Wednesday against Detroit.