ST. PAUL, Minn - Even with five regulars on the injured reserve the Minnesota Wild (17-9-5) found a way to beat the red-hot Dallas Stars (21-6-5) on home ice on Thursday.

Dallas came into Minnesota with points in 11-straight games. They also had a 15-game point streak over Minnesota. The last regulation win for the Wild against Dallas was Nov. 18, 2021.

Craziest part of it was the Wild beat the Stars, who had points in eight of their last nine and were on a four-game winning streak, without Mats Zuccarello, Marco Rossi, Jake Middleton, Vinnie Hinostroza and Marcus Foligno.

Five key players missing and Minnesota still found a way.

"Yeah, I think it just speaks to the culture in the room," veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian said. "I think everyone’s ready for that next opportunity. Obviously, guys being out – quite a few guys that are key parts of our team – gives guys other opportunities, whether it’s to get more minutes or special teams or whatnot. That’s how good teams get into the playoffs. That’s how good teams win the playoffs from top to bottom. It’s not just the 20 guys or 22 guys that are in the room. It’s guys getting called up. It’s guy working hard at practice and making sure that we’re all getting better together."

It seemed like the exact game script that has happened game after game and year after year between these two teams.

Minnesota had a 9-0 shot advantage to start the game and then Ryan Hartman took an offensive zone penalty and Dallas scored imminently on the power play on its first shot of the game.

“They were in the zone. They dumped a few pucks. They played the pucks, and it didn’t feel like I was outside the game. I was still in the game and just moving along. You see 1-0 on the scoreboard with one shot. It’s psychologically tough and sometimes you can feel a team losing a little bit of momentum there. Today just kept going. I gave up a soft second goal, too, and they just kept going and that builds me too to feel like we’re going to win this game anyways.”

Joel Eriksson Ek was able to get the Wild on the board later in the first after Matt Boldy drove the net hard. 

Later in the third period, Boldy made an unreal saucer pass onto the stick of Marcus Johansson who made no mistake and gave the Wild a 3-2 lead.

“You always gotta expect it from him I think," Johansson said on the pass. "So, it was a great play by him. We kind of tried that faceoff play a few times, and it worked out perfectly.”

It is truly amazing to see Boldy turn into a superstar. After a three-point night, he now has 17 goals, 18 assists and 35 points in 31 games this year for the Wild. He leads the team in assists and points. More than Kirill Kaprizov who makes $10 million more than Boldy.

What a contract that was for Minnesota on Boldy.

"Yeah, Bolds, he just continues to grow, I think. He’s such a talented kid," Wild head coach John Hynes said. "But you’re starting to see the consistency and the reliability in his game and understanding how he can help a team win on the scoresheet, off the scoresheet, and he’s becoming a regular driver every night, and how we want to play, playing to his strengths and not being deterred sometimes, whether he gets opportunities, and they don’t go in."

Boldy, 24, is now on pace for 45 goals, 48 assists and 93 points this season. He has turned into an absolute superstar and he continues to take control of every game.

Since Nov. 6, Boldy has 12 goals, 10 assists, 22 points and two game-winning goals in 17 games. He is tied for fourth in the NHL in goals in that span.

It was a bad October. The Wild were 3-6-3 and since then have completely turned it around. It started with Boldy's message which has now turned into the Wild's mantra.

"I think no one was happy with how October went. Sometimes that lights a fire on you, and you know, you gotta look yourself in the mirror and find ways to be better," Boldy said. "I think everyone in this locker room has done that. Everyone's having an impact on the game. Whether it's winning puck battles, blocking shots, scoring goals, making plays, everything. So yeah, for sure. I think no one was happy with how that month went. And for us to kind of, like I said, look ourselves in the mirror and to come out of it and find a way to play the way we've been playing has been great."

It is one thing to say that and another to back it up. Boldy has taken on a huge leadership role recently and is quickly developing into such a dynamic player. He is a factor in all situations and someone Hynes continues to lean on.

"Like I said, I think the consistency level that he’s played with this year, and you could see it starting to build, I’d say over the last year or two here now," Hynes said. "I think he’s a guy that he’s ready to go every night and he has the ability to be a game-changer on a nightly basis."

Boldy picked up an empty net goal to cap off a three-point night. His goal was his 119th career goal and tied Andrew Brunette for seventh-most in Wild history.

Per NHLStats, Boldy factored on a game-winning goal for the 61st time in his career and tied Mikael Granlund for the eighth most in Wild history behind Mikko Koivu (122), Zach Parise (86), Marian Gaborik (77), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (72), Ryan Suter (67), Jared Spurgeon (66) and Kirill Kaprizov (65).

The Wild have now beaten some of the top teams in the NHL. They have knocked off the Colorado Avalanche and now beat the Stars. Which are the two teams ahead of them in the standings.

"Yeah, we have belief and we know what we're capable of. There's never been a doubt in that. So, yeah, those teams are the measuring stick. They're so good," Boldy said on Colorado and Dallas. "So, for us to come in and find ways to win, it's not always pretty. There's ups and downs. Those are good teams. The biggest thing for us is to play our game and make it hard on them. You're not going to win every night, and sometimes that rescue doesn't always work, but I think the way we've shown up and played as a team and everyone on the ice working together and doing the right thing, I think, is what's been giving us success."

Even with all these key guys out, the Wild are still finding ways to win. And it starts with Boldy. It might even run through Boldy.

Boldy isn’t just outperforming his contract, he’s redefining the value of it. At 24 years old, he’s producing like a franchise driver while playing with the responsibility of a veteran.

It is truly amazing.

He doesn’t need the spotlight or the loud moments. He creates them naturally, and the rest of the lineup follows.

His message after October wasn’t empty talk. It became a standard. You can see it in how the Wild respond to adversity, how they stay composed after mistakes, and how they keep pushing even when key pieces are missing. This team looks different now.

Minnesota didn’t just lock up a scorer. They locked up an identity.

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