Matt Boldy nets hat trick as Wild outlast Predators in OT

Matt Boldy scored a hat trick in the first period and set up Jared Spurgeon’s game-winning goal as the Minnesota Wild pulled off a crazy 6-5 overtime victory against the host Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.

Late in the extra session, Boldy sent a cross-ice pass to Spurgeon, who beat Juuse Saros with 46 seconds remaining.

Quinn Hughes had two assists, and Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves for the Wild, who have won five in a row heading into the Olympic break.

Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg each had a goal and an assist and Steven Stamkos and Ryan O’Reilly each had three-point nights for the Predators, who defeated the St. Louis Blues 6-5 their last time out on Monday. Saros made 38 saves.

Boldy gave Minnesota an early 1-0 lead at 1:49 of the first period. The Wild won the faceoff in their defensive zone, and Zach Bogosian passed the puck up to Boldy, who skated above the Nashville defense to score on a wrist shot.

Boldy added to his tally with a backhand tip shot on the power play, giving the Wild a 2-0 advantage at 3:39.

Forsberg got Nashville on the board 2-1 with a wrist shot past Gustavsson on the power play.

On a fluke play in front of Nashville’s net, Nick Blankenburg lost possession of the puck, and Boldy quickly backhanded it past Saros to give the Wild a 3-1 lead at 12:58.

Stamkos buried his own power-play goal to make the score 3-2 at 16:45, and Eric Haula tied the game 3-3 on a wrist shot at 18:21.

Luke Evangalista gave the Predators their first lead of the game 41 seconds into the second period. Stamkos set him up for a wrist shot to make the score 4-3.

Yakov Trenin tied the game back up 4-4 at 16:06 when he skated in front of Roman Josi for a back-handed tap-in up close.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored on a wrist shot to make it 5-4 Wild at 15:14 of the third period, but Josi scored on the following faceoff to tie it 5-5 34 seconds later, setting the table for overtime.

–Field Level Media