Filip Gustavsson rebounds after wacky first period, but Wild fall short: Takeaways – The Athletic

RALEIGH, N.C. — If Filip Gustavsson compared last game to a “fruit salad,” it’s hard to put into words what Thursday’s game against the Hurricanes was like.

Take the first period, which was wild. It included a match penalty — on a dangerous hit by Tyler Pitlick — and a double-minor for high-sticking. There were five goals combined for both teams on just 10 shots.

“It was 4-3 after 6-3 in shots or something,” Gustavsson said.  “We were giving and creating chances.”

Gustavsson rebounded in the second and third periods to give the Wild a chance, but they fell 4-3 to Carolina at the Lenovo Center, snapping a two-game winning streak. Minnesota, which had just five shots on goal midway through the game, was fortunate to be down just one entering the third. The Wild made a push in the final 20 minutes with 12 shots and several good looks, to no avail.

“We know we’re good enough to play with anyone, play against anyone, and beat anyone,” Brock Faber said. “So I think there’s obviously positives from that one. I thought we put together a decent game, but not enough.

“We had our chances. It just sucks to not get two points.”

Matt Boldy, who snapped a six-game goal drought with two goals, tied the game early in the second on a power-play goal. But Faber turned the puck over on the next shift, leading to an odd-man situation and an easy tap-in for Nikolaj Ehlers for the go-ahead goal. That’s what made this one tough for the Wild, where they feel like they were right there with a very good team in their own building. Mistakes proved costly.

Two goals in two games for Nikolaj 🔥 pic.twitter.com/rPRN9hErrq

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) November 7, 2025

“Absolutely, I mean, it’s frustrating, right?” Faber said. “A few of mine end up in the back of the net, and obviously I hate that. So it sucks.”

Gustavsson, who had been sharp in back-to-back wins for the Wild, was fighting it early Thursday. The Ehlers goal wasn’t on him, but there were a few he would like to have back. He continues to struggle battling through screens, like on the Sean Walker goal in the first. But Gustavsson did bounce back after the fourth goal, stopping 19 straight shots to end the game. Gustavsson said he didn’t do anything differently.

“I thought he settled in after the first period, and the one in the second was not on him, but in the first it wasn’t what we needed it to be,” coach John Hynes said. “But I really like the fact that he gathered himself and he competed and battled and kept it at four and gave us a chance to get right to the striking distance of the game.”

Minnesota had a golden opportunity with seven minutes left to tie the game. It was a great give-and-go between Marcus Johansson and Kirill Kaprizov, but Sean Walker made a tremendous defensive play to get his stick on the cross-crease pass to Kaprizov to negate any shot on goal.

The Wild finish their back-to-back on Friday against the Islanders.

Boldy’s big night

Boldy, playing in his 300th career game, opened the scoring Thursday with a goal, snapping a six-game drought. He added another goal on the power play early in the second period off a slick feed from Vladimir Tarasenko.

What Hynes liked about Boldy during this recent stretch was that he wasn’t cheating the game for offense, even when he wasn’t producing.

“Like everything when you talk about players of his caliber, that getting looks and they play well, it’s a matter of time,” Hynes said. “As long as his game doesn’t change, and you get out of your identity and I haven’t seen that.”

Matt Boldy PPG #mnwild pic.twitter.com/jm2fW5H5Oy

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) November 7, 2025

Boldy said it felt good to come through. He scored on two of his three shots on goal and played a big role in the penalty kill, going 2-for-2.

“I think tonight, he was an impact player, both in his regular play, but also on the score sheet,” Hynes said. “But I think even the games when he’s not on the score sheet, he still does a lot of things that help a team win and it’s nice to see it, him growing that part of his game, too, that when the points don’t come, that he’s still an impact player for us in a positive way.”

Pitlick’s match penalty

Pitlick was likely going to be the odd-man out in the lineup Friday when Mats Zuccarello is expected to return, but he stood out Thursday after an ill-advised and dangerous hit on Jalen Chatfield in the first period; Chatfield left the game and didn’t return. It became a match penalty and seemed to flip the period. The Wild had been up 1-0 at the time, but the Canes seemed energized after that and scored a couple times during four-on-four play and another one right after the three-minute power play.

Tyler Pitlick was given a match penalty for an illegal check to the head of Jalen Chatfield pic.twitter.com/HZ0H7gg7WH

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 7, 2025

Pitlick has taken several bad penalties this season, including one that helped turn the Wild’s loss to the Penguins. Expect the Department of Player Safety to review Pitlick’s hit for supplemental discipline.

Hynes dismissed the idea that the Pitlick penalty impacted the game very much.

“I don’t necessarily think the hit changed the complexion of it, to be honest,” Hynes said. “It was four-on-four. I don’t think the hit had anything to do with what occurred after that in those different situations.”

Hunt’s ‘time’ finally comes

Daemon Hunt made his much-awaited season debut Thursday, just over a month after he was claimed off waivers from Columbus. Hunt, the former Wild draft pick, had been a healthy scratch for the first 14 games, stuck in limbo as Minnesota couldn’t send him to AHL Iowa without the risk of losing him on waivers. But Hynes found a spot to get him in against Carolina, scratching David Jiricek, who was coming off a rough game.

Hunt tried to take the waiting game in stride.

“It’s been a little bit tough for sure,” Hunt said. “I’m kind of in a weird spot in my career where I feel like I’m good enough to be in the NHL, and then I get picked up on waivers and not playing. Mentally, it’s been a little bit challenging trying to stick with it. I’ve been a glass-half-full type of vibes. Happy to be here, just waiting for my time, and my time is (Thursday). We’ll see what I can do.”

Hunt played his off side, the right side, with rookie Zeev Buium. Hynes wanted to keep his veteran top four together, and it would have been tough on the road (where Carolina gets last change) to shelter a pair of rookies (Buium, Jiricek) on the third pair. But Buium and Hunt played well against the Hurricanes. Hunt made smart reads, strong breakouts and didn’t show signs of rust in his nine minutes, 35 seconds of ice time. It wouldn’t be surprising if he played again on Friday.

“I think he skates well, he moved the puck fairly well, he defends hard,” Hynes said. “He plays with tempo. He plays the game with tempo, so that was nice to see him tonight.”

Zuccarello debut Friday?

Mats Zuccarello was with the Wild on this trip, as we reported earlier this week, and is likely to make his season debut Friday on Long Island against the Islanders. Zuccarello missed the first month of the season after having surgery on his lower-body injury. He was expected to be out 7-8 weeks.

As for where Zuccarello will slot in, it certainly looks like he’ll rejoin buddy Kaprizov on the top line with Marco Rossi centering (Zuccarello did some rushes with the two during Thursday’s skate).

Zuccarello’s return could push Tarasenko down to the third line with Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman and Vinnie Hinostroza to the fourth line alongside Ben Jones and Yakov Trenin.

Odds and ends

• Johansson, playing in career game 998, extended his career-long points streak to seven games (five goals, four assists); he’s only been held off the scoresheet four times in 15 games this season — a lot of bang for the buck for his $800,000 cap hit.

• Danila Yurov was a healthy scratch for the third straight game (the fourth line of Trenin-Jones-Pitlick had been together for the team’s previous three wins).

• Per NHL Stats, the only Wild players to score more goals in their first 300 games with the club than Boldy (109) are Kaprizov (174), Zach Parise (114) and Eric Staal (109).

• Buium played a strong game, creating many chances in his 18:07 of ice time, including an extended shift during six-on-five play at the end.

• The Wild penalty kill is in a 7-for-7 stretch now. “I would say the last few games, I just think our details on the penalty kill have been strong,” Hynes said. “We have times to pressure, we can pressure. We’ve done a good job clearing pucks. I think we’ve done a good job, a better job of our penalty kill forecheck. Those are all areas that they’re big differences. You always think it’s just what happens in the zone when you’re in your setup, but the intangible areas of the penalty kill have been better, therefore, we had to spend less time in that structure in there, and then when we are there, I think our details are really strong, and when we need to get a save, we’re getting it right now.”