The Minnesota Wild failed to keep Auston Matthews and William Nylander under control in their 7-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on the road inside Scotiabank Arena.
The biggest reason the Wild are now 1-1 heading into their final game of the road trip against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday is because of the offensive onslaught by the Leafs' stars on Saturday night: Matthews scored a hat trick, Nylander had two goals and three points and both Mitch Marner and John Tavares recorded two assists.
The Wild scored first thanks to Ryan Hartman's redirection on Kirill Kaprizov's shot from inside the blueline midway through the first period.
But after that, the Wild dug themselves into a hole and allowed the Maple Leafs' stars to take control and steal the show. In fact, it took just 82 seconds for Toronto to respond, and it was by none other than Matthews who has 100 goals to his name over the past two seasons.
Matthews was left all alone in the slot and beat Filip Gustavsson — who had a rough night allowing seven goals on 33 shots — high blocker. The goal was a prelude to the Wild's lack of defensive coverage and miscues in their own end.
Matthews gave Toronto a 2-1 lead when he found the back of the net again, this time from a difficult angle a few feet from the goal line on the power play just a minute and 42 seconds later. The Wild didn't escape the first period without more trouble, though, as the Maple Leafs took a 3-1 lead with 23 seconds left when Nylander drove to the net and tucked the puck past Gustavsson.
Toronto offseason addition Tyler Bertuzzi gave Toronto a 4-1 lead when he scored from in front on the power play 3:35 into the middle frame.
The Wild did crawl back and got themselves back in the game with a pair of second-period goals. Boldy cut the deficit to 4-2 with 15:51 left in the second when he beat IIya Samsonov top shelf from a sharp angle inside the left circle.
Then Marco Rossi, who had another strong game, scored his first NHL goal which cut Toronto's lead down to 4-3 with 10:09 left in the second. Remember, Rossi had his goal taken off the board due to offsides in Thursday's season opener.
Rossi showed off some hand-eye coordination when he batted the puck out of mid-air past Samsonov after Faber drove to the net that created the scoring chance. The Wild had their opportunities to tie the game, but failed to do so.
The Wild's miscues in their own end continued in the third when an uncovered Calle Jarnkrok tapped the puck past Gustavsson from in front after a slick centering pass from Morgan Rielly for a 5-3 Toronto lead. The goal proved to be the dagger and halt the Wild's momentum.
Matthews scored his third goal of the game with 9:35 left, which made him the fifth player in NHL history to record back-to-back hat tricks to open the season. He's the first player to do so since Alex Ovechkin did it in 2017-18.
Then Nylander beat Gustavsson clean blocker side from the left circle for a 7-3 lead before Brandon Duhaime scored with 2:28 left to cut the deficit to 7-4, but it was too late. The Leafs have now won five straight games against the Wild.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Wild outplayed the Leafs at five-on-five with the edge in shots (30-27), shot attempts (59-42), scoring chances (26-20) and expected goal share (54 percent). But it wasn't enough to get past Toronto's stars as penalties and defensive miscues proved costly for the Wild, who felt the absence of their captain and No. 1 blueliner in Jared Spurgeon.
Loose pucks
• Matt Boldy was injured in the third period, and there was no update after the game, according to The Athletic. Pat Maroon also left in the third period after taking a puck to the face.
• Marcus Foligno fought former Wild forward Ryan Reaves in the first period after Reaves hit Freddy Gaudreau hard.
• Faber was the Wild's best defenseman on Saturday, and it wasn't close. The 21-year-old finished with a 68 percent expected goals rate at five-on-five, which was the best among Wild defensemen, according to Natural Stat Trick. And he earned an assist on the Rossi goal by driving to the net, which created the opportunity. Faber had a good night in both ends, and he ended up being one of the lone bright spots in the loss.
Required Reading
• Iowa Wild named their captains for 2023-24 season
• The first edition of THN Wild weekly prospect report
• Wild need blueline to step up after Jared Spurgeon injury
• Kirill Kaprizov named alternate captain
