Takeaways: Wild’s early goals hold up in 4-1 victory over Flames

The Wild finally got the job done during regular business hours.

They held off the Flames 4-1 on Thursday, Jan. 29, at Grand Casino Arena, to clock out on time after their previous three games went past regulation.

Danila Yurov and Vinnie Hinostroza scored during a less-is-more run for the Wild offense: Their first two goals came on three shots in the first period, and they had only five more in the second before a clutch insurance goal on the power play by Matt Boldy late in the third after Calgary was getting close to the equalizer.

“I don’t think we played our best hockey in the first and the second,” Hinostroza said. “I think everyone felt the same way. They were kind of dominating. We got two nice goals, and then I don’t know if we thought it was going to be easy or what.”

Kirill Kaprizov added an empty-net goal with 2 minutes, 15 seconds to go.

Filip Gustavsson made 29 stops for the Wild, and Devin Cooley had 20 for the Flames.

“The difference in the game,” coach John Hynes said, “was strong goaltending, good special teams and opportunistic scoring.”

Just 2:43 into the first period, Yurov polished off a strong passing sequence by the Wild, with Daemon Hunt one-timing the puck to Vladimir Tarasenko, who forwarded it to the front of the net where Yurov whacked it past Cooley.

By 10:37, the Wild doubled their lead on Hinostroza’s first goal in 25 games after he caught an airborne pass from Jake Middleton and dropped the puck in front of him before wiring it into the Calgary net.

“You’re looking at so many things,” Hinostroza said. “Staying onside, catching the puck, and looking if their ‘D’ are coming at me or if I have time. Lucky enough, I was able to do that and score a goal and help the team.”

The Wild would go shotless the rest of the first period and didn’t test Cooley much more in the second.

That put them in perilous territory after Morgan Frost capitalized on a 2-on-1 shot off the rush 5:49 into the third period.

“They’re hard to play against,” Boldy said. “They play hard and simple, and they clog it up. So, there’s not a lot of plays off the rush that are high danger and stuff like that. So, yeah, the power play was nice.”

Quinn Hughes’ assist on Boldy’s goal extended his assist streak to seven games, which tied the franchise record for a defenseman.

“The penalty kill came through for us to keep the score where it was, and then we had our opportunities on the power play we were able to find a way to finish,” Hynes said. “That is a good sign, but I think we all know it wasn’t our best tonight.”

BOXSCORE: Wild 4, Calgary 1

NHL standings

After three consecutive overtimes for the Wild, the latter a 4-3 shootout victory over the Blackhawks two nights earlier in which they rallied from being down 3-0, the Wild were due for a lighter workload.

Their 21 combined appearances in overtime and shootouts are tied for the most in the NHL, but their efficiency went to the extreme vs. Calgary with how few shots they generated until the third period.

This was a particularly quiet game for the Wild’s offensive leaders until the final minutes, and the lopsided pressure could have cost them. But Gustavsson was locked in, and the Wild’s secondary scoring stepped up.