TORONTO — For 30 games, Marcus Foligno couldn’t buy a goal. Now he can’t be stopped.
After 12 career two-goal games, the Wild veteran completed his first career hat trick into an empty net in his 915th career game Monday night to help lift the Minnesota Wild to a 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
The only thing missing was Foligno emulating his father’s famed “Foligno Leap” on any of the three goals despite the fact his dad Mike, a longtime NHL player and coach who used to play for the Maple Leafs, was in the stands with his sister, Teresa.
“I’m more in shock that I got a hat trick, let (alone) one goal,” said Foligno, who doubled his season goal total to six with his third, fourth and fifth goals in the past four games. “So I wasn’t thinking about the whole extracurricular stuff at that time. But it’s special to get one in front of him, for sure.”
Or rather three — two nights after Foligno scored a goal and had a scrap in his front of his dad and sister Cara, in Buffalo, where Marcus was born in 1991 while his father captained the Sabres.
“He wants to take me on the road all the time now, but I can’t,” Mike Foligno told The Athletic after the game. “He’s on his own now. It was pretty exciting, for sure. He did a lot of work on some of the good plays they made tonight. They’re really playing well.”
The Wild, who leapfrogged the idle Dallas Stars for second in the Central Division, sure are.
With five regulars once again out of the lineup, the Wild easily defeated the Maple Leafs in a building where they owned the league’s second-best home points percentage with a 16-5-5 mark.
Vladimir Tarasenko passed up a hat trick himself by passing to Foligno for the first Wild hat trick on the road in nearly two years (Kirill Kaprizov was the last at Carolina). Ryan Hartman also scored his 10th goal in the past 19 games for the Wild, who have followed a 4-1-2 post-Christmas road trip with wins in their first two games on this three-game trip out East.
Toronto had been riding a 9-1-3 run, but the Wild improved to 13-3-2 on the road since Nov. 7.
It was a true clinic for the Wild, who scored two power-play goals, continuously got pucks to the net with bodies in front of Joseph Woll and almost never seemed to have to defend until the third period after Woll was chased from the game. The Maple Leafs barely hemmed the Wild in at all in the first two periods.
Quinn Hughes had another outstanding game with two assists and was on the ice for four Wild goals. His defense partner, Brock Faber, also had two assists, was on the ice for five Wild goals and was plus-4. Kirill Kaprizov had two assists and now has five on the trip, while Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves.
The Wild flew to Montreal after the game for a Tuesday night date with the Canadiens.
Foligno feeling much more like himself
Foligno went his first 30 games without a goal, but he’s starting to look and play like the Foligno we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing in recent games.
“It’s not about how you start. It’s about how you’re finishing,” Foligno said after his first hat trick since his junior days with the Sudbury Wolves. “So, getting through some injuries and just stuff like that and just finding my game at a good time. Yeah, it wasn’t a great start. A lot of just weird play and couldn’t get my rhythm in my game going. Not that scoring touches it, but I just feel a lot better now.”
hats off for Moose 🧢 pic.twitter.com/5sL1NVVBYp
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 20, 2026
Foligno was thankful that Tarasenko gave him the pass to bury the empty-netter despite flirting with his sixth career regular-season hat trick.
“I’ve gotten two goals many games and I’ve been snakebit,” Foligno said. “It was in the back of my mind. I was getting negative, it’s never going to happen, but empty net, Vladdy Tarasenko with a great, unselfish play. And he’s got two, as well. So I was just like, he’s got a couple hat tricks so he can give this one.”
Said Tarasenko, “He was in a better spot. I took my chance before, missed the net, and I mean, he was wide open, so. I learned after this is his first career hat trick, and very happy for him. He’s awesome person. He invited me over for dinner when I came by myself, my first couple of weeks in Minnesota, so I get the chance to know him, his wife, his kids, and he’s a very nice person.”
Foligno’s first two goals were redirections of Faber shots.
“That first tip was unbelievable by Moose,” Faber said. “That’s a big-league tip. That’s impossible to save. He played an awesome game. If he would have had zero goals, he would have played an awesome game, too. Just one of those things where he brings so much to the table and every single night just the wear and tear he puts on other teams, it’s obviously a great guy to have on your side.”
Remember, Foligno butters his bread in the playoffs.
“Listen, it wasn’t a great start,” he said. “Individually it’s been shake your head some nights at what’s going on. You have a great second half last year or the season last year was good and personally, but you can’t dwell on it. You get to the playoffs and that’s when you’re needed big-time. There’s going to be pains. I’ve gone through many things in my career where there are ups and downs. You can’t get too far ahead of yourself, and our team was winning so you gotta do what you gotta do, and I’m in a point in my career now — not that it was any different earlier — but you just want to win. So, points or no points, as long as we win that’s what matters to me. If I can contribute, then that’s a big plus for our team.”
Marcus Foligno with friends and family after the game, including father Mike and aunt Teresa over his left shoulder and PK Subban far right. (Courtesy of Marcus Foligno)
Hughes/Faber continue to roll
It’ll be interesting to see at the Olympics whether U.S. coach Mike Sullivan plays Hughes with Charlie McAvoy and Faber with Jaccob Slavin, or if he goes with a Hughes-Faber pair given how exceptionally the two of them have been playing together in Minnesota.
“The way he moves, from the time he got here I think everyone was just like holy,” Faber said. “You don’t realize how good he is until you see it and play with it. So he’s only going to get better the more comfortable he gets. Obviously, he’s been playing so good for us. He’s been a huge part of why we’re winning games. Just such a great addition.”
It’s also no coincidence how much the Wild’s offensive game has improved since his arrival. They’re getting secondary scoring up and down the lineup and lead the league in points from the blue line since Dec. 14. As coach John Hynes said, Hughes adds an “attack mindset” that just bleeds through the team.
“It’s insane,” Foligno said. “You don’t want to get ahead of yourself, but the stuff he does out there, it’s just like he makes everyone better around him, right? That’s what elite players do. It’s special. He calms the game down. He explodes the game for us. It doesn’t matter what type of line is out there. Guys get open because of his skill, his vision, and hockey IQ. Lucky to have him.”
Fun night for Haight and Jones
Ontario natives Hunter Haight and Ben Jones played their first career game in Toronto and had dozens of family and friends in the stands.
Jones was a diehard Leafs fan growing up and played youth hockey with Hughes on the Marlies. He grew up an hour from Toronto and said he was a big fan of Mats Sundin and Darcy Tucker.
Haight was more of a Penguins fan, but growing up 2 1/2 hours from Toronto, he watched the Leafs constantly because his parents were Leafs fanatics.
“I’d say my earliest memory was Tim Connolly camp when I was like seven years old or something like that, and skating before a game here,” Haight said. “You dream of it as a kid growing up being close to Toronto. It’s always a team you’re watching.”
Haight, after a real quality game in Buffalo, had four shots and says he feels much more comfortable than his early-season couple games. And Jones, who had an assist in Buffalo, had three shots Monday.
Injury updates
The Wild were once again playing without the second line of Marcus Johansson – Joel Eriksson Ek – Matt Boldy and veteran defenseman Jonas Brodin and Zach Bogosian. None of the five will join the team in Montreal on Tuesday night.
Johansson isn’t on injured reserve, so he’s eligible to play if healthy upon the team’s return to Minnesota. Bogosian is apparently close to returning and it’s simply a pain tolerance thing.
Eriksson Ek is eligible to come off IR anytime he’s ready, while Boldy must at least miss Thursday’s game against Detroit. Brodin is expected to be out for awhile, which means his Olympics are in jeopardy.