The Wild found some life for a moment in the third period, but their three-goal deficit proved too big to climb out of on Sunday night. Former Gophers star Matthew Knies sealed a 4-2 Toronto Maple Leafs win at Grand Casino Arena with a late empty-net goal.
It was an uninspiring home loss for the Wild (38-18-12) against a Leafs team that sits near the bottom of the Eastern Conference (29-27-12) and had lost nine of its last ten games coming into this one. Toronto was also without its best player in Auston Matthews, who will miss the rest of the season after suffering a significant injury this week.
The Maple Leafs stunned the St. Paul crowd — a group of fans that braved a Minnesota snowstorm to attend the game — with three goals in a span of about seven minutes early in the second period. The Wild got back into the game when Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice in less than 30 seconds early in the third period, but the equalizing goal eluded Minnesota after that. Despite out-shooting the Leafs 38 to 26, the Wild left empty-handed.
Neither team got on the board in the first period. Once the second began, the Leafs struck quickly. Morgan Rielly laced home a wrist shot just over a minute after the first intermission ended. About a minute later, Bo Groulx tipped home a Troy Stecher shot to double the lead. Six minutes after that, Groulx scored again off of a Matt Boldy giveaway. Those were just the third and fourth goals of Groulx’s 69-game NHL career.
Heading into the third period, Wild coach John Hynes tried to give his trailing team a spark by shaking up his forward lines. Kirill Kaprizov moved to play with Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek, with Vladimir Tarasenko joining Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello, among other changes.
It worked. Five minutes into the third, the Wild got on the board when Tarasenko scored a goal from Zuccarello and Hartman. Then, off the ensuing faceoff, Tarasenko scored again, with the same two players getting the assists. Those two goals in a span of 23 seconds got the home crowd going, and it felt like the Wild weren’t done.
But the third goal never came to fruition. Zuccarello had a great chance in front of the net that he couldn’t get past Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who made 36 saves on the night. And Knies wrapped it up with an empty-netter in the final minute.
The Wild have now lost four of their last five games, including three straight home defeats against non-playoff teams from the East. It’s looking more and more like they’ll finish in third place in the Central Division and open the postseason with a difficult first-round matchup against Dallas or Colorado.
The Wild’s next game comes on Tuesday night in Chicago against the Blackhawks, who have the third-fewest points in the West. Then Chicago comes to St. Paul on Thursday to complete a two-game set between the teams.
Mar 15, 2026; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs players celebrate their teams win against the Minnesota Wild after the game at Grand Casino Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn ImagesMatt Krohn-Imagn Images
(Matt Krohn-Imagn Images)
This story was originally published by Bring Me The News on Mar 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Sports section. Add Bring Me The News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.