ST. PAUL, Minn. — The way the Minnesota Wild have been defending this month, it’s almost fitting that the most clutch play of Sunday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights wasn’t Kirill Kaprizov’s overtime winner with 10 seconds left but instead Matt Boldy’s stick lift two minutes earlier after a Marcus Johansson giveaway.

Mitch Marner had the game on his stick on a breakaway, but the Golden Knights playmaker decided to drop a pass to defenseman Shea Theodore for what looked like a gimme winner when Filip Gustavsson committed to him. But just as the puck was about to reach Theodore, a hustling Boldy lifted Theodore’s stick on the backcheck and turned the puck quickly the other way.

To add insult to injury, one shift later Boldy hopped over the boards again, drew a penalty from Theodore with 29 seconds left and assisted on Kaprizov’s 11th career overtime winner when the superstar one-timed Mats Zuccarello’s pass for a 3-2 win over the latest team to oust the Wild in the first round.

“It was a great play by Bolds … but one of the privileges of coaching this team is that regardless of stature on a team or playing time on the team, or whatever it is, guys care,” coach John Hynes said. “And they’re willing to do the thankless jobs. I think that one of the things I know about the team is that whether it’s Kirill Kaprizov or Matt Boldy or it’s Vinnie Hinostroza or it’s (Ben Jones) or (Brock) Faber or (Daemon) Hunt, whoever it might be, they care about winning and are willing to do the things that it takes to do that. And that’s an example of what Bolds did tonight.”

KIRILL KAPRIZOV IN THE CLUTCH!! 😱

The @mnwild win a big one in @Energizer overtime! pic.twitter.com/rzWsep1VGI

— NHL (@NHL) November 17, 2025

Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy was white-hot on the bench, feeling Boldy’s stick lift was “obvious as it gets for a hook.”

He added, “Thought it was a real poor call on Theo if you’re going to let the other one go.”

The Wild, who won three of their first 12 games (3-6-3) until captain Jared Spurgeon’s players-only meeting before practice Oct. 31, are 6-1-1 since Nov. 1. They’re tied for first in the NHL with six goals, 13 points and 14 goals against in that span. In the past five games, they have allowed just six goals, including no five-on-five goals in the past 268 minutes, 40 seconds.

Kaprizov said the Wild were playing too soft in the month of October and now everybody’s simplifying and on the same page. As Marcus Foligno echoed, “We were really loosey-goosey in the neutral zone and allowing teams to skate in, right? … It was just loose hockey and that wasn’t our hockey style of play. I think we just got back to that and then the skill on our team takes over in the offensive zone. We run our routes and we get to the net and we shoot and we get more offensive zone time that way.”

The Wild also got goals from Joel Eriksson Ek and Yakov Trenin, two assists from Zuccarello and 23 saves from Filip Gustavsson. The Wild did lose Ryan Hartman to a lower-body injury in the third period, which could be problematic if he doesn’t recover in time for Wednesday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes because fellow center Marco Rossi is also out of the lineup.

The Wild snapped a five-game regular-season losing streak to Vegas, which has beaten the Wild in eight of the previous nine meetings.

That’s some incredible patience from Mats Zuccarello on that pass 😯 pic.twitter.com/FpA1WzrRxi

— NHL (@NHL) November 16, 2025

Trenin scores first of season, celebrates like Moose

Hynes reunited the Foligno-Yurov-Trenin line after not playing together in Friday’s shutout win over Anaheim, and Vegas had no match for the line’s physicality and ability to forecheck.

Until Reilly Smith’s power-play goal in the third period forced overtime, Trenin’s first goal of the season after a mammoth hit by Foligno on Kaedan Korczak would have been the winning goal. After the goal, Trenin— who lost his coverage before Pavel Dorofeyev’s first-period power-play goal — leapt into the glass.

“Yeah, what the hell?” Foligno said. “He stole my celebration. I thought that was me jumping into the glass at first. I thought I was having an out-of-body experience.”

Trenin said he had been waiting a long time for his first goal and was just excited. “I think I visualized this play before,” he said.

like we’ve always said, #trennythingispossible pic.twitter.com/7JnIARdsW2

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) November 17, 2025

 

Foligno threw his weight around all game, racking up seven hits, including monster ones on Tomas Hertl and Noah Hanifin.

“We came into this game ticked off about what happened last year,” Foligno said. “The team that knocks you out, you want to make a statement. You want to play hard, and I thought for the most part we did that. All the checks are the right play, and they know I’m a physical player. But at the same time, too, they played physical and they stepped it up as well. So that’s the type of hockey that just brings you in emotionally and it’s a lot of fun playing that way.”

Marcus Foligno CTRL ALT DELETE pic.twitter.com/GIZr09cPDV

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) November 17, 2025

Asked why the Foligno-Yurov-Trenin line has been so strong, Hynes said, “I think Trenin and Foligno have really got to their identity here, I’d say, the last two or three games. And I think they’re playing north and fast, and Yurov, I think he complements them well because he’s a good skating centerman. I think he can transport the puck up the ice at times. And when those two guys get in and bang and crash in the offensive zone, he’s a smart player where, I think, he finds good ice, where when they get puck retrievals in the offensive zone, he’s usually in good spots where they can pop it to him, and then there’s usually a next play.

“It’s not just a forecheck. It’s a forecheck, and then they get possession of the puck, and then because he’s in good spots, I think it extends the offensive zone time for them.”

Asked how he communicates with the two Russians, Foligno quipped, “Just, ‘Hi, how are you?’ No, actually Danila knows a little more than I thought, and Trenny’s good.”

A little pressure off Gus

With Jesper Wallstedt riding consecutive shutouts and many wondering if the Wild will ride the ‘Wall of Saint Paul,’ Gustavsson tried to make his case that the Wild should still hop aboard the ‘Gus Bus.’

Gustavsson had no shot on either goal he gave up. The Wild let Marner walk right up Main Street for a shot that ended up on Dorofeyev’s stick because Trenin let him stand alone at the doorstep, then Hunt got caught in between on Smith’s shot and screened Gustavsson. At even strength, Gustavsson was perfect.

Asked if he was starting to feel pressure with Wallstedt locked in lately, Gustavsson said, “That’s a good goalie relationship. If he would have played bad and knocked screws around, it’s not good for me. I like when he plays good, because then I have to perform as well, otherwise I’m not getting as much playing time. So it’s good. We’re battling against each other and we’re really pushing each other and that’s what a good goalie tandem does.”

Wild have rediscovered their identity

It sure feels like the Wild have turned the corner despite a plethora of injuries to Rossi, Vladimir Tarasenko, Zach Bogosian, Nico Sturm and now Hartman.

It’s because they got back to their hard-hitting, hard-forechecking ways while taking care of the defensive side of the puck.

“I feel like we play better in D-zone now,” Kaprizov said.

“We were trying to find our rhythm (last month),” Hynes said. “And it was games where we had it, and then were was times within games we had it, but then we got away from it. We’re not really a team that can just go out and play free-wheeling. We have a lot of talent and we have the opportunity to, I think, lean on teams. So it’s more them not just trying to come out and outscore a team, but try to outplay a team and lean on the team and control territory and to be hard to play against. And when you do that you have to defend less. So now if you are defending, your details are better. Your commitment level is better.”

Still, Foligno said, “Honestly, I think we can be better. There’s some times where we show that October hockey kind of sneaks in again. We gotta get rid of it. But yeah, this is a lot better from what we saw in the first 12 games.”