Game Recap: Wild 3, Sharks 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist for the Minnesota Wild in a 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.

“You’re trying to win every night, obviously,” Boldy said. “These (games) are a little bit more important. We’ve got to get these points to push to try to get in that spot, but you can’t stress about them. I think that doesn’t end up helping, if you sit there and you’re just constantly stressing and worrying. It comes down to the guys in our locker room playing the right way and finding a way to win.”

Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman also scored, and Kirill Kaprizov had two assists for Minnesota (35-28-9), which had lost two in a row and moved to within eight points of the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with 10 games remaining for each team. Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves.

“Credit to the guys,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “It’s hard to win in the League, and we certainly didn’t play to the standard we need to play with the final 40 minutes of the game. So I think there’s some things to address on that. And then we have to move forward and make sure that they’re addressed there.

“… We were under siege, particularly in the third period, and we’ll be better from this.”

Mikael Granlund scored, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 29 saves for San Jose (16-48-8), which has lost nine straight (0-8-1) and 18 of 19 (1-15-3). The Sharks have been eliminated from playoff contention.

“We’re dying for a win here,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I feel for our guys, although you’ve got to play 60, you can’t play 40. We’re kind of in that mode of playing the first two really well and struggling in the third. We kind of reversed it tonight. It says a lot that we continue to battle, play the way we did for those last two periods. It would have been easy to pack it in after the first period, and we did anything but that.”

The Wild outshot the Sharks 15-1 in the first period.

Eriksson Ek gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 16:01 of the first, scoring on a tap-in from the right side off a give-and-go with Kaprizov. It was the 30th goal of the season for Eriksson Ek, who was playing his first game since missing five with a lower-body injury.

“It’s fun,” Eriksson Ek said. “I play with good players. That helps for sure. All I want to do is win games. To win as a team, I think that’s when you have the most fun.”

Granlund tied it 1-1 at 9:26 of the second period. He scored at the right post after his pass attempt was blocked on a 3-on-1.

Boldy put the Wild ahead 2-1 at 18 seconds of the third period with a backhand off a Kaprizov deflection after Boldy caused a turnover on the forecheck.

“Just kind of instinct,” Boldy said. “It just kind of popped out, and I had the whole net. Shot it and it went in.”

Hartman scored into an empty net for the 3-1 final at 19:06.

“It was a good effort. We’re playing hard, playing the right way,” Blackwood said. “The first period didn’t go our way, but I thought they responded well and deserved points tonight.”

NOTES: Kaprizov (81 points; 36 goals, 45 assists) became the first player in Wild history with multiple 80-point seasons. He had 108 points (47 goals, 61 assists) in 2021-22. … Minnesota forward Marcus Foligno was a late scratch with a lower-body injury and is day to day. … Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin was plus-2 with one blocked shot and one shot in 21:23 of ice time after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … Sharks forward Mike Hoffman had one shot on goal in 14:41 after missing eight games in NHL concussion protocol. … San Jose forward Kevin Labanc had three shots and one hit in 10:52 after being a healthy scratch the previous four games.