With Grand Casino Arena taken over until early next month by the 2026 World Juniors, the Minnesota Wild embarked on a seven-game, 14-day road trip Saturday morning.

On a weird travel day that started at 6 a.m. at Minneapolis Airport and was scheduled to end at 2:30 a.m. (CT) with a landing in Las Vegas, that late-night flight to Sin City will be made all the easier after a dramatic come-from-behind victory during the team’s pitstop in Winnipeg.

Mats Zuccarello scored a power-play goal on a six-on-four with 20 seconds left to force overtime, then Matt Boldy scored his second goal of the game 39 seconds into OT to lift the Wild to a 4-3 victory at Canada Life Centre.

“I’m not going to lie, that was a panic shot at the end there and it went in,” Zuccarello said.

After Jesper Wallstedt robbed Mark Scheifele with the glove and wisely dropped the puck for Quinn Hughes to break out and keep the clock moving, Kirill Kaprizov set up Boldy for his fifth career OT winner on a 32-foot snap shot.

Kaprizov ended with a goal and two assists and Hughes had three assists as the Wild snapped a two-game winless skid and Connor Hellebuyck’s personal seven-game win streak against them. Wallstedt made 23 saves to improve to 5-1-1 on the road.

The Jets have lost five of six games since Hellebuyck returned to their lineup from injury. The Wild, who are third in the NHL, are now 18 points ahead of the Jets in the standings.

The Wild improved to 8-1-1 in their past 10, which is not too shabby after punching the clock at 6 a.m.

“It’s a weird day for sure,” Boldy said. “You’ve got to find ways around it and make yourself feel good. Long trip, and to start off positive and keep the energy up after a long day and an early flight, that’s huge for us.”

Coach John Hynes added, “I give the guys credit. It’s a tough day to get through and I thought we did a really good job sticking with it.”

Kaprizov and Boldy remain hot

Prior to the Avs’ game in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Kaprizov and Boldy have now combined for 47 goals — one more than Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas have for the NHL lead for two teammates.

Boldy scored the tying goal late in the first period when he won a puck battle along the wall, then battled his way to the front of the net to get stick position so he could redirect Jared Spurgeon’s shot-pass. It was also his league-leading 15th goal within 15 feet.

His overtime goal was his team-leading 24th goal and 19th since Nov. 6, tied for third in the NHL in that span.

Per #NHLStats, the last time the #mnwild scored a later game-tying goal than Mats Zuccarello’s equalizer at the 19:38 mark in today’s third period was Nov. 6, 2021 (59:57 at PIT). pic.twitter.com/tiv7RXOhC6

— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) December 28, 2025

Early in the second, Kaprizov took Zuccarello’s neutral-zone pass in stride, blew by Dylan DeMelo and scored a beauty for his 23rd goal. It was DeMelo who cross-checked Joel Eriksson Ek with 28 seconds left in regulation to give the Wild a six-on-four with the extra attacker.

Sloppy end to second period

Despite being doubled up on shots late in the second, the Wild looked like they’d enter the third period with a 2-1 lead.

However, they gave up two goals in the final 2:04 of the period to take a 3-2 deficit into the third.

First, Kyle Connor scored his 12th goal and 29th point in 29 career meetings with the Wild, then Jonathan Toews beat Nico Sturm on a faceoff with five seconds left in the period and Scheifele scored the go-ahead goal with 2.6 seconds left.

It was a disappointing end to the period, especially after the Wild’s league-best road penalty kill had extinguished a third straight power play earlier.

Sturm could have made amends in the third period after a great play by Boldy, but a puck rolled off his stick with a completely wide-open net to shoot the tying goal in on.

Chaos! pic.twitter.com/C5nRiXuElN

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) December 28, 2025

Irony of all ironies

Payback can hurt sometimes.

The Wild learned quickly after reacquiring Gustav Nyquist last season for a 2026 second-round pick that he was not the same player who played for the Wild in 2023. His analytics from last season with Nashville were accurate; he was one of the most inefficient five-on-five forwards in the NHL.

But after scoring two goals and five assists in 22 underwhelming regular-season games, Nyquist will be remembered in Minnesota for his six scoreless playoff games and for not dragging his skate along the blue line as Ryan Hartman drove the net late in a tied Game 5 against Vegas.

After Hartman scored with 75 seconds left in the third period, Bruce Cassidy challenged, the goal was overturned, Vegas won in overtime, and, instead of the Golden Knights being on the verge of elimination in Minnesota in Game 6, it was the Wild who lost and sustained their latest first-round exit.

Ryan Hartman’s potential game-winner comes off the board after a successful Vegas offside challenge#mnwild | #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/LBBTxfdaQJ

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 30, 2025

Well, the Wild cut Nyquist loose as a free agent and he ended up signing in Winnipeg. Well, after going his first 26 games this season without a goal, Nyquist skated through Quinn Hughes at the blue line, scored his first goal in the first period Saturday night, only to ironically have the goal overturned when Hynes successfully challenged that former Wild Nino Niederreiter was offside.

The Wild are 4 for 4 this season on offside challenges. The Nyquist goal was wiped off the board, but Josh Morrissey scored a little more than two minutes later for a 1-0 Jets lead. Nyquist would also hit the post on an early second-period Jets power play.

Spurgeon OK after scary incident

The Wild lost defenseman Spurgeon late in the second period when he looked to come up dazed after being clubbed in the face by a Logan Stanley clearing attempt follow-through in Winnipeg’s end.

But Spurgeon was able to return to start the third period.

Defenseman Daemon Hunt (lower body) didn’t travel with the Wild; he could join the team later in the road trip. But if Spurgeon isn’t up to playing when the Wild play Monday night in Las Vegas, they do have blueliners David Jiricek and Matt Kiersted still on the roster.

The Wild have the day off in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Ouch pic.twitter.com/4WJTCqAP1P

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) December 28, 2025