In a late game, the Wild pounced on Seattle early

The television audiences for late games tend to wane, as even the most strident fans of the Wild often have to work in the morning and choose extra sleep over a third period that often starts after the local news has signed off.

With their home game versus the Seattle Kraken starting late to accommodate national TV, Minnesota opted to get this one out of reach early, so those fans who called it a night wouldn’t miss the best parts.

A trio of Wild goals in the opening minutes of the game spurred them to a 4-0 victory over the Kraken on Wednesday, as Minnesota won its second game in a row and took another step toward a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2023.

But as has been the case too often this season, the victory came at a price, as another key player was lost to injury.

Marco Rossi, who was the team’s top-line center to open the game, left in the first period with a lower body injury after a shot by a teammate hit Rossi in the left leg. He did not return, and his status will not likely be known until the team’s Friday practice.

Ryan Hartman, Matt Boldy and Liam Ohgren scored goals in a 1:42 span before the game’s first media timeout, as the Wild won their season series with Seattle with a 2-0-1 head-to-head record.

Goalie Filip Gustavsson did the rest, finishing with 34 saves for his fifth shutout of the season. Boldy got a late empty-net goal for the Wild.

“It’s nice, isn’t it? To be able to get a little bit of run support and then be able to play the game the right way. It’s not one bounce and it’s a tie game,” said John Hynes, whose team had been in an offensive funk for much of March, but has now scored seven goals in the past two games. “So it was good. I really liked our start. Then I thought we did a pretty good job the rest of the game to continue to play the right way, so it was a nice win for us.”

Seattle, which is well outside the playoff race, got 24 saves from goalie Philipp Grubauer but could not overcome the Wild’s quick start.

It had been more than two weeks since Minnesota had visited the Kraken for a 4-3 win on March 4, which was also the last time they had scored a first-period goal. That problem was rectified less than three minutes after the opening faceoff when Hartman scored his second goal in as many games, taking a pass from Zach Bogosian and catching the Seattle goalie sliding across the crease. Minnesota winger Vinnie Hinostroza collected his 100th career assist on the play.

Within the next 100 seconds, the Wild doubled, then tripled, their lead, with Boldy snapping a drought of 11 games without a goal, then Ohgren scoring at Xcel Energy Center for the first time in his career.

“It felt good. It’s good to see one go for sure. But I think we’ve been playing great as a team and as a whole. To see a couple go in quick like that was nice for everyone out there,” said Boldy, who is now tied for the team lead in goals with 23. “So we just gotta keep that going and keep playing great offensive hockey. I think we’ve done a great job on the defensive side. But hopefully that kind of breaks the seal a little bit and see a little bit more goals go in.”

Minnesota had a pair of first-period power plays and threatened to extend its lead when Hartman hit the crossbar on a 2-on-1 rush to the net.

During that game in Seattle two weeks earlier, the Wild built a three-goal lead, then had to hang on to win. They talked about not letting the Kraken back in this time.

“That was a talking point between periods,” Hartman said. “Obviously, we know they’ve got some skilled guys. They like to push and especially when they’re down, they kind of fly the zone. We had to make sure that we stayed aware.”

The Kraken, who had scored six times in a win at Chicago on Tuesday, could not get their offense going versus Gustavsson.

“They’re a good competitive team, and as of late they’ve had success playing good defense and to find yourself up 3-0 in the game I don’t think they changed anything, they just continued the good style that they have been,” said Seattle coach Dan Bylsma. “It was a competitive match the rest of the way. We just couldn’t find the goal to claw us back into the game.

The bad news for Minnesota in the first came when a Boldy shot inadvertently hit Rossi in the left leg, causing an absence that led to line juggling the rest of the way.

Rossi entered the night tied for the team lead in goals among active players, and it could potentially be another blow to an injury-riddled team that is already playing without Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin, with Marcus Foligno out on Wednesday and Marcus Johansson scratched due to illness.

The Wild – who have had a home game every other day for more than a week – get a leisurely two-day break before hosting Eastern Conference cellar-dweller Buffalo on Saturday. The game is a 1 p.m. puck drop, with Xcel Energy Center hosting the NCHC Frozen Faceoff title game that evening.

Minnesota won its lone road game at Buffalo 1-0 on the night before Thanksgiving.

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