NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Matt Boldy’s quick hat trick was special and historic for the Minnesota Wild.

But for the star winger, it probably wouldn’t have felt the same had they not pulled off this wild game. With the way things were going, Minnesota could have used two Boldy hat tricks, but it found a way to win 6-5 in overtime over the red-hot Nashville Predators. Captain Jared Spurgeon scored the winner with 46 seconds left in the extra session.

The Wild are 8-1-1 in their last 10, with a five-game winning streak heading into the Olympic break.

“It’s been going great,” Boldy said. “We’ve been stringing wins together — a lot of different ways to win, a lot of different guys contributing. Definitely a lot of positives.”

Boldy’s three goals came in the first 12:58, the fastest hat trick to start a game in Wild history, and plenty of hats were tossed on the ice, even in a road building. The lead was short-lived, as the Predators scored twice at the end of the first and once early in the second to take a 4-3 lead. The Yakov Trenin–Danila Yurov–Vladimir Tarasenko line was good and connected for the next two goals.

Trenin’s goal tied it late in the second, and Tarasenko gave the Wild the lead with five minutes left in the third. But Roman Josi scored 34 seconds later to force OT.

“It’s important to have games like this during the season so when things don’t go well, it’s about how you react if you’re looking to playoff experience,” Tarasenko said. “It’s one of the most important parts of the playoffs — how you react when things don’t go well. When things go well, it’s easy to keep going. We’re in a really good spot.”

The Boldy trifecta

Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes grabbed the headlines more recently.

But Boldy, the Wild’s other superstar, delivered the goods Wednesday. You could tell Boldy was feeling it early, as he was sprung for a breakaway two minutes in on a nice stretch pass by Zach Bogosian. Two minutes later, Boldy connected on a redirection of a pass by Hughes, which eventually trickled through Juuse Saros. On the third, Boldy found a bouncing rebound off his first shot and backhanded it in.

“(The puck was) just kind of following me,” Boldy said. “I’ll take it. Won’t complain about that. I got some good bounces.”

The fastest hat trick to start a game in franchise history topped Zach Parise (16:33 on March 24, 2016). Overall, Boldy scored the second-fastest three goals by a Wild player in any time of the game, behind Joel Eriksson Ek (2:18 on April 9, 2025). Boldy was asked for the last time he scored three goals that quickly, and he smiled.

“No idea,” he said. “Probably as a kid.”

Spurgeon said when Boldy is rolling like that, you “just tell him to shoot it.” Boldy now has 32 goals, the same as Kaprizov, with the two tied for third in the league, behind only Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.

“We’re obviously pretty lucky to see him every single night,” Spurgeon said. “I just feel like throughout the year, he just continues to grow. He has so many on the offensive side, but defensively as well. You can see on the PK, he’s one of the best guys out there, and he just makes it look easy.”

Major swings

The Wild looked like they had control of this one, with Boldy’s hat trick giving them a 3-1 lead with seven minutes left in the first. But the momentum appeared to flip a bit as Minnesota took a few penalties. The Predators had scored a power-play goal earlier after a Ryan Hartman penalty, then pulled to within 1 late in the first after a Kaprizov holding penalty. (Judging from his reaction on the bench, coach John Hynes didn’t like either of those calls.)

The Wild killed a Predators power play late in the second to keep it a 4-4 game.

“I thought they played and had the momentum for some of it, and then we would take over — sort of back and forth,” Spurgeon said. “They played a pretty aggressive game, with the forwards taking off and trying to create offense, so a bit different than the teams we’ve played of late, but I thought we did a good job there near the end of creating a lot of chances.”

The Russian line

The Trenin-Yurov-Tarasenko line has been good together, and it provided a spark Wednesday.

Yurov, the Russian rookie, was especially noticeable in playing a mature game. He even got a tough assignment with a defensive-zone draw late and playing the final 1 minute, 23 seconds of regulation in a tied game. Trenin had the tying goal and Tarasenko the go-ahead goal in the third (a shot going wide that went off a Nashville defenseman).

“I thought they were very good,” Hynes said. “You know, they were threatening offensively. I thought, defensively, it felt like whoever you had them out against, they were playing well, so it was good to see. And to see guys in different situations, you know, at the end of the game, I think it’s how the rotations went, but it certainly felt comfortable with those guys out at that point in time.”

Tarasenko and Trenin have taken Yurov under their wing this season, and they have seen a lot of growth.

“He’s earned his trust,” Tarasenko said. “I think as we all do. You play with the guys for a while, and if you talk and express yourself — me and Trenny try to help him. We share experiences. As a centerman, you see how confident he is moving the puck up the ice. He’s making smart plays, making great reads. He’s willing to listen and willing to work hard.”

Odds and ends

• Boldy joined seven teammates who are heading to Milan in the coming days for the Olympics: Boldy, Hughes and Brock Faber for Team USA; Eriksson Ek, Marcus Johansson, Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt for the Swedes; and Nico Sturm for Germany.

• Spurgeon’s OT winner was the sixth of his career, tying Matt Dumba for second in Wild history.

• Daemon Hunt returned to the lineup, as expected, after leaving Monday’s game with an upper body injury. He was paired with Bogosian again.

• Wallstedt and Marcus Foligno, both sick, remained in Minnesota. Cal Petersen was the backup goalie.

• With 30 saves, Gustavsson improved to 13-1-3 with a 2.56 goals-against average, a .906 save percentage and one shutout in his last 17 starts.

• Kaprizov (4-5-9) picked up his ninth overtime point of the season, tying McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (both with 9 in 2024-25) for the most overtime points in a single season in NHL history, per NHL Stats.