Wild get Matt Boldy back but lose to Panthers in overtime, 4-3

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jan 25, 2026

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Wild had one of their top goal scorers back in action … but so did the Panthers.

Florida’s Brad Marchand scored twice, including in overtime, to lift the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions to a 4-3 victory over the Wild on Saturday at Grand Casino Arena.

Marchand, who was playing for the first time in eight games after being injured, connected on a 2-on-1 pass from Carter Verhaeghe 3 minutes into 3-on-3 overtime after posting a goal and assist in regulation.

Matt Boldy also scored and had an assist in his return after missing four games because of a lower-body injury.

Kirill Kaprizov netted his 28th goal, which is tied with Boldy for the team lead. Kaprizov’s 213 career goals are only six behind Marian Gaborik for the most in franchise history. Joel Eriksson Ek also scored for the Wild.

Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves, and Sergei Bobrovsky had 18.

How it happened

The Panthers led first, capitalizing 6:44 into the first period when Sam Reinhart flipped in a rebound past Gustavsson.

Kaprizov answered back on the power play on a carom off Florida’s Aaron Ekblad at 9:17, his third goal in two games, but the Panthers exited the first ahead when their power play converted with 1:40 to go on a backhander by Brad Marchand, who sat out the previous seven games hurt.

The parade to the penalty box continued in the second, and the Wild power play took advantage again against Florida’s top-10 penalty kill at 4:33 when Eriksson Ek whacked in a Kaprizov rebound in his second game back after missing six injured. The assist gave Kaprizov five consecutive multipoint games.

Turning point

Special teams remained a factor in the third, with both teams converting on the same penalty and power play.

Boldy intercepted Marchand to skate in for a breakaway that he deposited behind Bobrovsky 12:09 into the period for his third career short-handed goal. But Florida didn’t trail for long, with Sam Bennett’s tap-in 1:02 later during the remaining power play paving the way for overtime.

Key stat

Both teams went 2 for 6 on the power play.

Up next

The Wild will play the Central Division rival Blackhawks on Tuesday, Jan. 27.