Minnesota 5, Seattle 1
When: 8:00 PM ET, Monday, March 27, 2023
Where: Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Referees:
Francis Charron, Steve Kozari
Linesmen:
Brandon Gawryletz, Tommy Hughes
Attendance:
19291
By Field Level Media
Matt Boldy scored his second hat trick in nine days as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-1 Monday night in St. Paul, Minn.
Jake Middleton and Ryan Hartman also scored and Marcus Johansson, Jared Spurgeon and Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists apiece for the Central Division-leading Wild (43-22-9, 95 points), who improved to 15-1-4 in their past 20 games and pulled within three points of Western Conference-leading Vegas. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves.
Jaden Schwartz scored for the Kraken (40-25-8, 88 points), who lead the West's wild-card race. Goalie Philipp Grubauer stopped 9 of 13 shots before being pulled 50 seconds into the third after Boldy scored to make it 4-0. Martin Jones stopped 6 of 7 shots the rest of the way as Seattle had an eight-game road point streak snapped (7-0-1).
Despite being outshot 13-5 in the first period, the Wild carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Spurgeon faked a shot from the right point and sent a cross-ice pass to Middleton, who skated to the top of the left faceoff circle before beating a screened Grubauer with a wrist shot at 15:17.
Boldy made it 2-0 on the power play at 5:38 of the second. Johansson got the puck in the left-wing corner and passed to Boldy at the right faceoff dot. Boldly put a wrister into the upper left corner of the net.
Boldy tallied again at 14:59, after Eriksson Ek won a faceoff in the right circle in the offensive end. Boldy took the puck at the top of the circle, did a pirouette and put a wrist shot past a screened Grubauer.
Boldy completed the hat trick 50 seconds into the third. Eriksson Ek stole a clearance attempt and passed to Boldy for a one-timer from the slot. Boldy also had three goals in a 5-3 victory against Washington on March 19.
Hartman tallied at 10:21 of the third to extend the lead to 5-0.
Schwartz got Seattle on the board at 11:00, scoring on a backhanded rebound after the original shot went off the left post.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Seattle |
|
Minnesota |
Jaden Schwartz 1 |
Points |
Matt Boldy 3 |
Jaden Schwartz 1 |
Goals |
Matt Boldy 3 |
Vince Dunn 1 |
Assists |
Joel Eriksson Ek 2 |
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Matt Boldy 1 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Martin Jones .857 |
Save Percentage |
Marc-Andre Fleury .972 |
Philipp Grubauer 9 |
Saves |
Marc-Andre Fleury 35 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Seattle
|
36 |
1 |
0-3 |
2-3 |
18 |
28 |
Minnesota
|
20 |
5 |
1-3 |
3-3 |
18 |
25 |
Upcoming Games
-
Minnesota will play their next game on the road against Colorado. The Wild have a W/L % of .581 after a win and .581 after a loss.
-
Seattle will play their next game at home against Anaheim. The Kraken have a W/L % of .575 after a win and .515 after a loss.