The Minnesota Wild (14-3-4) went into Toronto on Thursday night looking to stretch their road winning streak to seven games. And since they had Matt Boldy on their team, it wasn’t going to go any other way.

The 25-year-old wing netted a hat trick in Minnesota’s 5-2 win tonight over the Maple Leafs, stretching their point streak to 10 games (8-0-2), and racking up their 32nd point of the regular season, good for first place in the Western Conference.

Boldy opened the scoring at 17:53 of the first period off a Kaprizov assist. Toronto answered with two goals early in the second, as Auston Matthews and Zack MacEwen scored about three minutes apart to give the Leafs a 2-1 lead.

MN Wild win but lose Joel Eriksson Ek again

Boldy tied it on the power play at 9:55 of the second, with Quinn Hughes and Kaprizov assisting, then scored the go-ahead goal 3:59 into the third to finish the hat trick.

Michael McCarron added a goal at 7:34 of the third, and Danila Yurov finished it with an empty-netter. Kaprizov ended the night with three assists, while Jesper Wallstedt stopped 26 of the 28 shots he faced.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows in the Minnesota Wild locker room after the victory. That’s because they yet again had to finish without their top-line center Joel Eriksson Ek, after an open-ice hit via Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe in the second period left Ek in need of assistance skating off the ice.

The hit came at 8:06 of the second in the neutral zone, and no penalty was called. Eriksson Ek never took another shift and finished with 10:52 of ice time and three shot… and he never saw the McCabe hit coming.

Ryan Hartman centered the top line when the third period started. Sportsnet thought it was a head injury but head coach John Hynes didn’t have a lot of information after the game other than he didn’t think it was too serious and that he hopes to have more information tomorrow.

Another injury scare for the MN Wild’s top center

It’s kind of hard to believe, but Joel Eriksson Ek has played in all 21 MN Wild games this season, putting up six goals, 11 assists and a plus-15 while averaging 19:48 of ice time. It hasn’t been an easy task to stay on the ice recently, however.

Ekker blocked a shot against the Islanders on Oct. 29, then finished that game. He was back at practice ahead of the Capitals game but then missed practice on Nov. 5, which Joe Smith (The Athletic) called a maintenance day. He played the very next night. I have a feeling we will be seeing more of the same questions on the 29-year-old’s status the week. as well.

Last season was a different story. Eriksson Ek played 70 games in 2025-26 after playing just 46 the year before. The Wild placed him on injured reserve in January, and he was ruled out of Game 4 against the Avalanche in the playoffs.

Minnesota is next in Boston on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT, when everyone including John Hynes expects Brock Faber to make his season debut there.