Blue Jackets drop season opener at Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Matt Boldy had a goal and two assists, and the Minnesota Wild held off the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday in the season opener for each team.

“I just want to win,” Boldy said. “I think everyone in this locker room wants to win. We’re so close. We all get along so well. (We're) competitive and we didn’t have the year we expected last year, so all of us in here just want to win games and have a successful year.”

Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello also scored, and Marcus Johansson had two assists for Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves, including stopping Yegor Sharangovich’s slap shot from above the left face-off circle with 10 seconds left and Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins pulled for the extra attacker.

“It's a hard-fought game,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I think with a home opener on both sides, the first game, there's so much energy in the games that there wasn't a lot of free ice. You’ve got to be able to understand that when you're coming in the season, because the regular-season games are a step up. So, it was good."

Kent Johnson had a goal and an assist, and Zach Werenski scored for Columbus. Merzlikins made 23 saves.

“Not happy with the result but I feel like our body of work in that game and how we played, if we do that and that’s the standard in our room, we’re going to win a lot of hockey games,” Werenski said. “So, definitely something to build on. We’d like to get two points, but that’s how hockey goes sometimes.”

It was Dean Evason’s debut as Blue Jackets coach. The former Wild coach was hired on July 22, replacing Pascal Vincent. Evason was 147-77-27 in five seasons with Minnesota and 8-15 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs before being fired Nov. 27, 2023.

“Once you get back there, I think it’s like [the] same as a player. I think you forget the surroundings and it’s just like riding a bike,” Evason said. “You fall back into a routine, and it was a lot of fun to be behind the bench. I don’t care which one I’m on.”

Boldy put the Wild up 1-0 at 17:51 of the first period with a snap shot from the right circle to the short side that got through a screened Merzlikins.

Johnson tied it 1-1 at 2:00 of the second period, spinning and scoring with a wrist shot from the right hash marks.

“Credit to the boys, I think they’re doing a great job finding me,” Johnson said. “I always want it, and they’re finding me really good right now.”

James van Riemsdyk, who was making his Blue Jackets debut, appeared to put Columbus ahead on the power play at 10:24 with a deflection at the edge of the crease, but the goal was overturned after the Wild challenged for goaltender interference.

Eriksson Ek then gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead at 16:35. He scored with a one-timer from the right hash marks after quick passes from Boldy and Johansson following a failed clearance by Columbus.

“I think ‘Bolds’ kind of looked first, but I wasn't really there yet,” Eriksson Ek said. “And as soon as ‘Jojo’ got it, I saw he looked at me, so I kind of knew he was going to pass it. So, two good plays by them.”

Zuccarello extended the lead to 3-1 on the power play at 9:58 of the third period, scoring from the right circle after Boldy fed him with a no-look pass.

Werenski brought the Blue Jackets to within 3-2 with his own power-play goal at 17:06, a one-timer from the right circle.

“I thought our team played really well tonight,” Werenski said. “Like we just said, if we play like that we’re going to win a lot of games. And that’s what winning hockey looks like and that’s fun hockey, so we’re going to build on it. We’re going to learn from some things we did wrong, but I think at the end of the day we have to play like that every night and it’s a good recipe for success.”

NOTES: Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov had an assist to give him a point in his fifth straight season opener, tying Mikko Koivu (2008-09 to 2012-13) for the longest streak in franchise history. … Center Boone Jenner, the Blue Jackets captain, had surgery on his shoulder Wednesday and could be out for the season. The 31-year-old was injured in practice Oct. 4. General manager Don Waddell put the timeline for his recovery at “probably five or six months.” … Van Riemsdyk was minus-1 with one blocked shot in 11:42 of ice time. The forward signed a one-year, $900,000 contract with the Blue Jackets on Sept. 15.