Wild forward Matt Boldy has had consistently good seasons ever since he joined the NHL. He has been a very good top-six forward for Minnesota but so far in his playoff career, Boldy hasn’t been the player the Wild hoped he’d be.
His first playoff series Boldy had one goal, four penalty minutes, three hits and was a minus-one in six games. His second playoff series, he had zero goals and was a minus-five. He had five hits in six games as well.
The question coming into the Wild’s playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights was what will you get out of Boldy in this series.
Well, if Sunday was any indication of what we will see from Boldy in this series, watch out.
Boldy, 24, scored the Wild’s only two goals in their 4-2 loss to the Golden Knights. Not only did he score two but he had six hits.
“I thought he was very good. Obviously he had the two goals, but I just thought he was a beast on the puck and he was moving his feet,” Wild head coach John Hynes said. “He played the style of game that gives him a really good chance to be a dominant player in this series, and he did a good job of that.”
What likely caused this was how Boldy played for Team USA during the Four Nations Face-Off during the middle of the season.
The young forward was one of USA’s better players and was very physical as well. He used his 6-foot-2 frame to drive to the net and power his way through guys in the tournament and the hope was that would translate to the playoffs this go around.
The result is, it did.
Hynes was asked if Boldy maybe changed his game for the playoffs since his six hits was much higher than his career 0.64 hits per game.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say I saw his game change. I think that he’s played that way throughout the season,” Hynes said. “I think maybe more than his game change, I think the confidence level that he has to be able to go to the Four Nations and play in that style of tournament. He was a big factor for our team with the U.S. I thought as the tournament went on, he was better and better, and his role increased as it as it went on.
“So I think the confidence in his own game and understanding what makes him an elite player and a hard guy to be able to play against, and he’s doing it regularly now. So, it’s good.”
The Wild as a team finished with 54 hits on Sunday which was the second-highest total in Stanley Cup Playoff play in franchise history. Boldy was a big part of that.
As Hynes said, Boldy has a chance to be a dominant player in this series and that is exactly what the Wild need if they want to even up the series on Tuesday.
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