Wild win in regulation 4-1 over the Flames

Danila Yurov and Vinnie Hinostroza scored first-period goals as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Calgary Flames 4–1 on Thursday night.

Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov added late third-period goals, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 29 shots for Minnesota, which has gone 5-1-1 over its past seven games. The Wild are tied with Tampa Bay for the second-most points in the NHL with 72, trailing only Colorado’s 79.

Playing the lone road game of their final nine contests before the Olympic break, the Flames received a third-period goal from Morgan Frost but fell to 0-3-2 in their last five games. Devin Cooley finished with 20 saves for Calgary.

Trailing by two, Frost cut the deficit to 2–1 just 5:49 into the third period, converting a long outlet pass from Jonathan Huberdeau and beating Gustavsson with a low shot.

After Minnesota killed off a Quinn Hughes penalty moments later, Hughes nearly restored the Wild’s two-goal lead on a breakaway, but Cooley made the stop. Boldy finally sealed the win with a power-play goal, redirecting a Kaprizov pass with 2:43 remaining. Kaprizov followed with an empty-netter.

Hughes also recorded an assist on Boldy’s goal, extending his assist streak to seven games. That ties Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter for the longest assist streak by a defenseman in franchise history.

Despite managing just three shots in the opening period, Minnesota scored twice. Yurov opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game, completing a give-and-go with Vladimir Tarasenko for a backdoor goal. Hinostroza doubled the lead midway through the period, scoring his first goal in 25 games after corralling a long outlet pass from Jake Middleton at the Calgary blue line.

Minnesota has now scored first 33 times this season, the second-most in the league, and improved to a perfect 22-0-3 when leading after two periods.