PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins may have left their legs and overall game in Stockholm, but as Matt Boldy said after the Minnesota Wild’s easy-peasy 5-0 win Friday night at PPG Paints Arena, “we owed ’em one.”
Twenty-three days earlier, the Wild’s season was at a low point when they were beaten at home by the Penguins, 4-1, for their ninth loss in 12 games. Ever since? The Wild are a league-best 8-1-1 with a league-fewest 1.7 goals per game after Filip Gustavsson recorded the Wild’s league-leading fourth shutout with only 19 saves.
The Wild defended so impeccably, Gustavsson said after his 13th career shutout, “I was just standing there enjoying my night. Just had a few saves here and there. They blocked the shots and played very, very solid in front of me.”
Minnesota jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead, then chased Artūrs Šilovs from Pittsburgh’s next just 69 seconds into the second period when Kirill Kaprizov tipped Jake Middleton’s shot on the defenseman’s first shift back after being lost early in the first period when he was high-sticked just under his left eye.
Boldy continued his scorching pace of late with two goals and an assist. Joel Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov had a goal and an assist apiece, while Marcus Johansson also scored and Brock Faber assisted on two goals.
“Our game’s getting better and better, and that’s what matters,” Boldy said. “And I think everyone’s going. There’s no passengers right now, which is great.”
Faber said it was sweet redemption for the home loss to the Penguins just more than three weeks ago.
“We’re a confident group, and you feel like you can beat any team in the league when you’re on and they definitely didn’t see our best then, and I guess we didn’t see their best tonight,” Faber said. “But, yeah, there was definitely some thought of that, that we definitely owed them a better one than we gave them back at home.”
That’s five goals in his last six games for Matt Boldy 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PsWSWka39k
— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2025
Wild on fire since return of Zuccarello
The Wild are 6-0-1 since Mats Zuccarello’s season debut on Nov. 7 on Long Island. That’s the Wild’s longest point streak since they opened last season 5-0-2. Friday marked Zuccarello’s 400th game in a Wild sweater.
While Zuccarello doesn’t want to talk about that, coach John Hynes said with a chuckle, “He talks to me about it, I can tell you that.”
“Zuccy brings a personality and a veteran presence to the team that I think is very positive,” Hynes said. “He’s a highly talented player that plays the game in the right way, I think. Just his attitude around the group, he can loosen some things up, but he can do that because he plays the right way, so it’s good to see him come back right off the injury, and he’s made a major impact for us.”
Goalie rotation?
Jesper Wallstedt is 4-0 in his past four starts with a 1.22 goals-against average and a .963 save percentage. Gustavsson, after beating the Penguins on Friday night, is 4-1-1 in his past six starts with a 1.95 goals-against average and .921 save percentage.
“That’s the guy I’m challenging against,” Gustavsson said. “We’re pushing each other to play our best out there. We know if we’re not on our best, the other guy’s gonna play.”
With both goalies on top of their game and the Wild having the second-best team save percentage (.941) this month, Hynes has been asked the past few days if he could see using strict goalie rotation like Carolina does.
While Hynes won’t commit to that, he did indicate both will continue to see consistent action if they continue to play well.
“It’s a luxury right now, and it’s a good situation for us,” Hynes said. “When both guys are playing the way they’re playing, let’s keep them both playing.”
Gustavsson was probably always getting the Pittsburgh game, but after Wallstedt made 42 saves through overtime on Wednesday night in an 8:55 p.m. game against Carolina and another three in the shootout (he’s seven for seven in shootouts this season), Hynes wanted to be smart.
Players didn’t get home from the game until 1 a.m. Thursday, then had to fly to Pittsburgh 12 hours later. After Friday’s game, the team flew to Winnipeg for a Sunday afternoon game. Hynes didn’t want to risk injury or fatigue with Wallstedt, so Gustavsson got the easy nod.
Now we’ll find out Sunday if the Wild come back with Gustavsson after his shutout or Wallstedt? Six games ago, Wallstedt shut out Calgary and the team came back with Gustavsson when it next played against San Jose two nights later.
What a run for Boldy
Less than four minutes into the game, Boldy extended his point streak to six games (six goals, 10 points) and he now has eight goals in his past eight games after one in his previous 10. It was the 11th consecutive game the Wild scored first.
What’s more, his overall game has been tremendous with his battles along the wall and defensive play alongside shutdown center Eriksson Ek and Johansson.
“If you look at the matchups that he’s getting, too, … to be able to produce is one thing in this league, but to be able to do it when you’re starting in the D-zone a lot of your shifts, you’re going against other teams’ top line every single night, that’s hard,” Faber said. “That’s really hard. To be doing what he’s doing is extremely impressive, but it’s not surprising to anyone in this room.”
a Penguins giveaway in their own zone results in a quick Boldy redirect to make it 5-0 pic.twitter.com/BGBbf3ClVe
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 22, 2025
Kaprizov is the Wild’s superstar, but Boldy is right on his tail, and he’s doing it in hard minutes because, as Faber mentioned, his D-zone starts and top-line matchups with Eriksson Ek as his centerman.
“Those three guys (Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy) are playing at the top of their game,” Hynes said. “I think they’re really playing as a strong trio. I think they’re all skating. You see them from an offensive perspective. They’re very close, tight-knit. They can check the other team’s top lines offensively, and then, you know, Ekky’s been fantastic on faceoffs, which has helped. … The three of them are all working at the same work rate and they’re at the top of their game right now.”
Boldy played a big part in the Wild’s power-play goal by Eriksson Ek to gain a 2-0 lead. It came with 14 seconds left in a double minor and it could have been a big momentum change had Zeev Buium not slid right to create a shootout lane for a redirection.
“We joked around that it was a really bad power play,” Boldy said. “I don’t think we got set up once.”
Joel Eriksson Ek PPG from Zeev Buium. 2-0 #mnwild pic.twitter.com/0Ml2EkiTAx
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) November 22, 2025
Hinostroza injured, will return to Minnesota
Forward Vinnie Hinostroza looked to have sustained a serious injury in the second period when he was checked hard to the ice by Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves. Hinostroza landed hard on his back and tailbone and may have hit his head on the ice. He first lay stationary, then turned over in his pain, hopped to the bench and limped down the tunnel. You could hear him yelling in pain on the ice.
Hynes said, “I think he’s going to be out a little bit. We’re gonna probably send him home from the trip. So we’ll see where he goes from there.”
Vinnie Hinostroza injury pic.twitter.com/YXNmMmhlJs
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) November 22, 2025
Bogosian returns, Sturm on horizon
After missing the past 16 games, defenseman Zach Bogosian returned to the lineup for the first time since Oct. 17. Daemon Hunt was scratched with Bogosian back. The Wild were 5-1-1 with Hunt in the lineup, but he was coming off two rough games in a row and the only other option to take out of the lineup would have been rookie Buium.
With Bogosian back, David Jiricek was assigned to Iowa. He was scratched in five of the past seven games and was originally supposed to end up in Iowa until Bogosian was hurt.
In addition, center Nico Sturm was activated off injured reserve and warmed up with the Wild for the first time since before he was traded to Colorado in 2022. The winner of the Stanley Cup with the Avs and with Florida last season, Sturm returned to the Wild as a free agent this summer, but hurt his back on the first day of training camp and ultimately underwent surgery.
Sturm is expected to take part in Saturday’s likely very optional practice in Winnipeg and make his season debut against the Jets on Sunday.
Center Ryan Hartman continues to recover from a lower-body injury. He’s technically eligible to come off injured reserve in time for Wednesday’s game in his hometown of Chicago. Winger Vladimir Tarasenko (lower body) remains day-to-day and the Wild will learn more at Tuesday’s practice in St. Paul if he’s close to returning to the lineup or can travel with the team to Chicago on Tuesday.