ANAHEIM — Matt Boldy had a goal and two assists, and the Minnesota Wild won their season-high sixth straight game, 4-1 against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Wednesday.
Connor Dewar, Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Minnesota (19-11-2), which has won 13 straight against Anaheim.
Fleury and Filip Gustavsson have each started three games during the winning streak and combined to allow six goals.
“Every coach obviously preaches defense-first and we certainly have,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “We gave up a lot of goals early in the season. Our group has made a commitment to keeping it out of the net and, obviously, our goaltenders are first and foremost making stops.”
Mason McTavish scored, and Lukas Dostal started for the second straight night and made 38 saves for the Ducks (9-22-3) in the opener of a 10-game homestand. Dostal made 37 saves in a 4-1 loss at the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
“Just too many penalties,” McTavish said. “Just giving them chances and playing with fire.”
Video: MIN@ANA: Boldy nets 12th goal of the season in the 3rd period
Boldy gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead at 4:46 of the third period. He prevented a clearing pass from exiting the Wild zone along the boards, then skated in and scored on a wrist shot from the inside edge of the right face-off circle.
Hartman blocked a shot by Simon Benoit that appeared headed for an open net six seconds before Boldy scored.
“That’s game changing,” Boldy said. “We scored right after. It’s swings like that when you have everyone going.”
The Wild scored on their fifth of six power plays to make it 3-1 at 8:54. Calen Addison took a slap shot from the right point and Eriksson Ek deflected the puck into the net.
Hartman scored into an empty net with 1:48 left for the 4-1 final.
“That’s the disappointing thing because 5-on-5, we actually played quite well,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “But you leave the game and you have a sour taste in your mouth because all of the penalties took us out of our rhythm.”
Video: MIN@ANA: McTavish starts scoring in 2nd period
Anaheim took a 1-0 lead during 4-on-4 play at 5:48 of the second period. McTavish stole a cross-ice pass from Kirill Kaprizov in the Minnesota zone and scored between the pads of Fleury on a breakaway.
Shortly after another 4-on-4 situation ended, Fleury made a save Sam Carrick‘s short-handed breakaway at 13:40.
The Wild tied it 1-1 at 16:03. Dewar was closely defended by Carrick when he spun and shot the puck from the left point, but it appeared to glance off the Ducks defenseman. Nathan Beaulieu and into the net.
“It was tough for [Dostal] to pick that one up,” McTavish said. “I don’t think anybody even saw it.”
Dewar earlier missed a wide-open net after Mason Shaw stole a pass from Dostal behind the net and fed Dewar, but his shot slid at 2:50 of the first period.
“I felt bad for ‘Shawzy,'” Dewar said. “He made a nice play to me. Got a bit of it, but not enough.”
Ducks forward Trevor Zegras Hit the post off a rush at 12:44 of the first, and Fleury then made a pad save on Ryan Strome on the rebound.
“Just a good team game,” Evason said. “We defend well, block a lot of shots, get rebounds, (and) get people away from our eyes so we can see the puck.”
NOTES: Wild forward Mats Zuccarello had his 10-game point streak (seven goals, nine assists) end. … Anaheim is down to its third goalie Anthony Stolarz (lower body) and John Gibson (undisclosed) injured. They are day to day. … Boldy has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past six games. … Addison leads all NHL rookies with 12 power-play points (12 assists). … Minnesota center Frederick Gaudreau assisted on Hartman’s goal to give him five points (four goals, one assist) in his past five games. … McTavish has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games. … Eriksson Ek’s younger brother, Olle Eriksson Ekwas the backup goalie for Anaheim.
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