Matt Boldy scored on a backhand shot in the shootout as the Minnesota Wild somehow withstood a relentless offensive effort by the Carolina Hurricanes, seeing a pair of two-goal leads slip away but prevailing for a 4-3 win.
Rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt was the difference-maker with 43 saves as the Wild improved to 7-1-1 in November.
Wallstedt stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout, improving to 5-0-2 as a starter.
Right about the time the clock struck 9 p.m., with the game less than two minutes old, the Wild extended their franchise record and scored first in a 10th consecutive game. Brock Faber’s fourth goal of the year came on a precise redirect of a Mats Zuccarello shot.
While the Wild’s penalty kill, cumulatively, has hovered among the bottom five in the NHL all season, they mustered the best outcome available while rookie Zeev Buium was in the penalty box. Popping on a turnover at the far blue line, Boldy’s low shot gave Minnesota its first short-handed goal of the season, and the Wild’s first at home in nearly two years.
By late in the second period, Wallstedt’s shutout streak had stretched to nearly three full games. But with the Hurricanes’ offense coming in waves, the run was in obvious jeopardy.
Former Eden Prairie prep star Jackson Blake clanked the post in the latter half of the middle frame, then got the visitors on the board a few minutes later. The shutout streak of 175 minutes, 12 seconds was the fourth-longest in franchise history.
It was also the first five-on-five goal allowed by the Wild in more than 302 minutes.
With the disastrous second period behind them, Zuccarello’s breakaway goal just 15 seconds into the third gave the Wild some needed breathing room. It was Zuccarello’s first goal of the season, and gave him six points in six games since returning from an injury that had him out of the lineup for the first month.
But third-period goals by Sebastian Aho and Blake ,again — with 66 seconds left in regulation — and the Carolina goalie on the bench, forced overtime. Wallstedt’s body of work included stopping Blake on an overtime breakaway.
Frederik Andersen had 16 saves for Carolina, which beat the Wild 4-3 in Raleigh two weeks ago — Minnesota’s only regulation loss of the month.
The Wild next head out on a three-game, pre-Thanksgiving road trip starting Friday evening when they make their only visit to Pittsburgh this season.
Briefly
With the PWHL’s Minnesota Frost beginning their drive for a third consecutive Walter Cup title on Friday when they open the season at Grand Casino Arena versus Toronto, members of the Wild showed support for their co-tenants in the downtown St. Paul rink before facing Carolina. Matt Boldy, Jake Middleton, Brock Faber and several other Wild players made their entrance to the locker room wearing the distinctive purple and white Frost sweaters on Wednesday. Frost stars Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle, holding the team’s two Walter Cup trophies, led the “Let’s Play Hockey!” cheer before the game’s opening faceoff.
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