ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Matt Boldy was taking a bruising cross-check in a scrap for the puck along the end boards in the final minute of the first overtime in Minnesota, when teammate Kirill Kaprizov dragged it out of Dallas traffic and set up Jared Spurgeon at the point.
Boldy, to nobody’s surprise, hustled over in front of the crease. With one quick flick of his wrists, he deftly used his stick shaft to steer Spurgeon’s shot into the corner of the net and seal a critical victory in Game 4. The budding standout right wing has done far more than that dramatic deflection to help the Wild even the first-round NHL playoff series with the Stars.
“That’s the type of player you build teams around. He’s that guy,” said teammate Marcus Foligno, who had the tying goal late in the third period on Saturday. “He doesn’t pout. He doesn’t whine. He just takes it and goes. We saw him in the first shift, the first period. He goes and hits that guy, and that just fired us up. Bolds plays a big-man game, and that’s what his whole career is going to be built around, and there’s nothing better than those big moments.”
The freshly minted Olympic gold medalist scores a lot of goals, too. Boldy followed Kaprizov during the regular season by hitting the 40-goal mark, the first such milestone of his career, and has three goals and two assists in this series. He’s third in the league during this postseason with 21 shots.
The Stars have been trying their best to make Boldy and Kaprizov uncomfortable and unproductive, with mixed results, but they’re clearly not going to be able to break their confidence or their will. Game 5 is in Dallas on Tuesday.
“They go to the hard places, and they don’t get rattled,” Foligno said. “I think it’s really frustrating over a seven-game series when you can’t get to a superstar’s head.”
The 2019 first-round draft pick, who didn’t get serious about hockey until he was 16 after playing plenty of baseball, golf and lacrosse while growing up in Massachusetts, has endeared himself to the Wild fan base. Both of their home games in this series have featured multiple “Boldy! Boldy! Boldy!” chants, a show of affection he appreciated but tried to shrug off afterward in deference to the team.
Playing for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off last year and at the Winter Games this year helped solidify Boldy’s ability to insulate himself from the intensity of high-profile competition, watching more accomplished and experienced teammates like Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews handle the pressure.
“Getting frustrated and complaining and whining and stuff like that does no good,” Boldy said. “The more you can kind of stay calm and let your game speak and do what’s best for the team, good things happen.”
Even when Boldy has taken his share of big hits in this series, like when Stars captain Jamie Benn hit him in the back of the head and caused him to face-plant on the ice in Game 3, he has maintained his composure.
“I think that’s a personality trait. He’s a guy who can play when the heat gets turned up. I think that’s what makes him special,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “But on the other side of it, he earns it. The way that he plays, the way that he competes, the way that he continues to grow.”
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl