15 October 2023
TORONTO — Auston Matthews scored his second hat trick in as many games this season and the scoring-rich Toronto Maple Leafs handed the Wild their first loss of the season on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena.
Ryan Hartman and Matt Boldy scored their first goals of the season, and Marco Rossi scored his first NHL goal as Minnesota pulled within 4-3 in the second period, but Minnesota’s defense — missing a key piece in captain Jared Spurgeon — couldn’t keep pace with a Toronto team that has now scored 13 goals in two games.
Matthews’ third goal made it 5-3 with 9:35 left in the third period, and Calle Jarnkrok and William Nystrom each added another in the period to break it open for the Maple Leafs, who improved to 2-0-0.
Brandon Duhaime knocked a bouncing puck past Ilya Samsonov to make it 7-4 with under 3 minutes to play.
The Wild (1-1-0) started their regular-season opener against Florida last Thursday playing catch-up, back on their heels as the Panthers entered their zone in waves before getting an early goal from Brock Faber and holding on for a 2-0 victory. That wasn’t the case on Saturday.
The Wild came out with controlled energy and took a 1-0 lead when Hartman redirected a shot on goal by Kirill Kaprizov from the blue line, off his own skate, at 9:32 of the first period.
Then it was all Maple Leafs, who rattled off four straight goals over the next 10½ minutes while the Wild failed to cash in on their good chances, including a one-timer by Kaprizov that missed an open net. Ultimately, it was too much to overcome for Minnesota.
After Hartman’s goal, the Leafs scored the last three goals of the first period, including a William Nystrom goal on a rush off an unforced turnover by Marcus Johansson with under a minute to play. Then, in the first minute of the second, Wild defenseman Alex Goligoski tripped Max Domi in the corner, giving the Leafs a power play.
Tyler Bertuzzi, camped in the slot, wristed a short pass from Calle Jarnkrok, beating Gustavsson point-blank to his right to make it 4-1. It could have been a soul-crusher for Minnesota. Instead, the Wild fought back.
Boldy quickly answered — 34 seconds later — with his first goal of the season, skating the puck straight to the left corner and slipping it behind Ilya Samsonov to make it 4-2. A little more than 5 minutes later, Marcus Foligno threw a shot on net that was stopped by Samsonov, but Rossi knocked in the rebound with the shaft of his stick to make it 4-3.
Boldy left the game with an upper-body injury midway through the third period.
After scoring a hat trick in the Leafs’ season opener, Matthews scored twice in the first period, first when he took a pinpoint pass from Mitchell Marner in the slot and snapped it near corner before Gustavsson could react to tie the game at 10:54.
After an interference call on Jon Merrill with the teams skating 4 on 4 — roughing minors on Connor Dewar and Domi — Matthews scored from the right circle to make it 2-1 at 12:35.
With under a minute left in the period, Johansson whiffed while trying to keep the puck in the offensive zone, sending Toronto the other way with the puck. Nylander got the puck above the left circle and skated it into the crease and through traffic to stuff it into the far corner for a 3-1 lead with 23 seconds left on the clock.
The Wild will practice Monday in Montreal before playing the Canadiens on Tuesday night at Bell Centre.
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