Matt Boldy scores hat trick, Kraken fall 5-1 to Wild
SAINT PAUL, MN - MARCH 27: Jared Spurgeon #46 and Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Minnesota Wild defend their goal against Ryan Donato #9 of the Seattle Kraken during the game at the Xcel Energy Center on March 27, 2023 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Photo
The Seattle Kraken might want to hope they don't draw the Minnesota Wild in the playoffs.
Matt Boldy delivered his second hat trick in five games and Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves for Minnesota as the Kraken fell 5-1 to the Wild on Monday night.
Boldy has scored nine goals in his last five games for the Wild as Minnesota has continued to surge despite the absence of an injured Kirill Kaprizov. The Wild sit in first place in the Central Division and would be Seattle's first round opponent if the playoffs were to begin now.
The Kraken could arguably make a case that they outplayed the Wild for most of the night. Via MoneyPuck.com, Fleury saved 2.24 goals over expected in thwarting many good chances for Seattle's offense. The Kraken finished the night outshooting the Wild by a 36-20 margin in the loss.
"It was one of those nights where we weren't rewarded for some of the good hard work we did offensively," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "We made a couple too many mistakes that ended up in the back of our net."
Fleury delivered over 110 minutes of consecutive shutout effort in net against Seattle between the last two games played between the teams this season. Fleury made 28 saves in a 1-0 victory over the Kraken in Seattle in November. He made it 51 minutes into Monday night's game before the Kraken broke his scoreless streak.
"Fleury made some big timely saves early and we just weren't quite there for the second chances tonight," forward Jaden Schwartz said.
Jake Middleton gave the Wild the lead with 4:43 left in the opening period. His shot beat Grubauer glove side through a well-placed screen in front of the net from Joel Eriksson Ek to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.
Five minutes into the second period with Vince Dunn in the penalty box for a hooking penalty, Boldy scored his first of the night. A great pass from former Kraken Marcus Johansson found an open Boldy and he snapped a shot into the top left corner for a 2-0 lead.
Johansson had a pair of assists against his former team.
Boldy later collected a face-off win from Eriksson Ek and snapped a shot through the legs of Matty Beniers by Grubauer to make it a 3-0 lead at the end of the second period.
Eriksson Ek then pressured Justin Schultz into a turnover deep in Seattle's zone and he fed Boldy for a one-timer into the top right corner and a 4-0 advantage less than a minute into the third period.
"You don't have to make a lot of mistakes some nights," Hakstol said. "But the ones that we did - we made a defensive zone coverage mistake on the first goal, they beat us on a seam play on the (penalty kill), and then the third one is a seeing-eye through bodies, right. That's the type of night it was. Our guys kept battling to get back into it but the early goal in the third was a tough one to overcome."
Martin Jones replaced Grubauer for the rest of the night after Boldy completed the hat trick. He wasn't able to leave unscathed either as Ryan Hartman snapped a wrist shot over Jones' shoulder for a 5-0 lead midway through the third period.
Schwartz managed to get a backhand shot on net to slip through Fleury's legs with nine minutes left to play to avoid the shutout for Seattle. Morgan Geekie tipped a shot from Vince Dunn off the post and the rebound found Schwartz for the finishing effort to make it a 5-1 game.
"Did a lot of good things. I think they were pretty opportunistic with their chances and we weren't tonight with our looks," Schwartz said.
The Wild are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games and lead the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars by three points in the division. If Seattle remains in the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, they'd face the Central winner in the opening round.
The Wild and Stars present the biggest goaltending tests Seattle could face. Meanwhile, the Avalanche are still dangerous as the defending Stanley Cup champions and seem to be catching stride late in the year as well.
The Kraken are not yet a lock for the playoffs, but they would need a catastrophic finish to the year to miss out on their first playoff appearance. Seattle has nine games left with six of those games coming against non-playoff teams (Anaheim, Vancouver, Chicago and three games against Arizona).