Key Takeaways
- Matt Boldy scored three goals as the Minnesota Wild beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5–2 on Thursday night.
- Auston Matthews scored his 12th goal of the season and Zach MacEwen had a goal and an assist for Toronto.
- The loss was Toronto's fifth in a row; Jesper Wallstedt made 26 saves for Minnesota.
Boldy scores in all three periods as Toronto's slide hits five
Matt Boldy scored once in each period to complete his hat trick, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Maple Leafs 5–2 in Toronto on Thursday night, handing the Leafs their fifth straight loss.
Boldy opened the scoring late in the first period, finishing a Kirill Kaprizov setup at 17:53. Toronto answered early in the second: Auston Matthews tied it with his 12th goal of the season at 4:05, and Zach MacEwen put the Leafs ahead 2–1 less than three minutes later, capping a two-point night.
The lead lasted under three minutes. Boldy tied the game on the power play at 9:55 of the second, then completed the hat trick — his 10th goal of the season — at 3:59 of the third. Michael McCarron added insurance at 7:34, and Danila Yurov closed it out into the empty net. Kaprizov finished with three assists.
Jesper Wallstedt made 26 saves for the win. Anthony Stolarz stopped 21 shots for Toronto, which outshot Minnesota 28–26 but never recovered after Boldy's second goal. Minnesota improved to 14-3-4; Toronto fell to 8-11-2.
The Twikup Take
Five straight losses, and this one followed the script that is starting to define Toronto's season: a brief lead, a quick answer, and a third period that got away. Boldy was the best player on the ice by a distance — but the Leafs made his night easy: their only lead lasted less than three minutes, and the game was gone early in the third.
Image: Auston Matthews playing with the Maple Leafs vs Coyotes on October 17, 2022 by Quintin Soloviev, CC BY-SA 4.0.