3 Takeaways From the Wild’s 6-5 Overtime Win Over the Predators

The Minnesota Wild finished up their schedule prior to the start of the Olympic break with one more game on the road against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night, Feb. 4. Marcus Foligno and Jesper Wallstedt did not travel due to illness, as they missed the game on Monday, Feb. 2, against the Montréal Canadiens as well. 

Filip Gustavsson was in the net for his second straight start, and the game started in the Wild’s favor once again. However, they struggled to keep the Predators off the scoreboard, and they went into the second period tied. The Predators took the lead early in the second, but the Wild answered back, and they went into the third tied 4-4. 

Each team scored one more goal before regulation ended, and they went into overtime tied 5-5. The Wild scored with less than a minute left and took the win 6-5. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with the Wild’s top producer for the night: Matt Boldy.

Wild’s Boldy Leads Team 

Kirill Kaprizov still holds the lead in terms of scoring for the Wild’s roster, but Matt Boldy worked hard on closing the gap against the Predators. He scored the first goal of the game under two minutes into the first, and then less than two minutes later, he scored on the power play to put the Wild up 2-0. The Wild looked to be in control of the game, and Boldy wasn’t done yet. 

The Predators got back within one, but then Boldy responded with his third goal of the game for his first hat trick of the season. The Wild looked to be headed in the right direction once again, but the Predators fought back. After his third goal, Boldy was done for the night in terms of scoring goals, but that didn’t stop him from helping set up the game-winner. 

Boldy had a hand in four of the Wild’s six goals, and he was a major reason they came out on top in the game. He’s really stepped up for the Wild this season, and he’s shown why he was chosen to be on Team USA in the Olympics. Hopefully, he’ll be able to keep this up for Team USA and when he returns to the Wild as well. 

Wild Got Lucky & More Secondary Scoring

The Wild started out strong, and although the Predators fired back and it looked like they were going to take control, the Wild got a very lucky bounce in the later minutes of the third to take their lead back. Vladimir Tarasenko took a shot that looked like it was going to miss the net, but it hit a player’s skate in front of the net and deflected in.