2025-26 Playoff Focus: Matt Boldy (Game 1 vs. DAL)
Straight to business
If the Wild are going to get over their first-round hump, conventional wisdom points to Quinn Hughes as the catalyst. After all, he’s the reason Minnesota feels different this season.
That may ultimately prove correct, but the ice-tilting defenseman was just good in Game 1 vs. the Stars. Matt Boldy was exceptional.
The two-way winger’s range, elusiveness and attacking IQ gave Dallas fits right from puck drop. Although he by and large drew the Stars’ matchup pairing (Esa Lindell-Miro Heiskanen), it didn’t matter in the slightest. The 25-year-old had his way with whoever stood in front of him on Saturday evening, and this might have been most evident in puck protection:
The 6’2”, 201-pounder possesses a rare combination of heft and small-area shiftiness, wielding his free arm to eliminate puck visibility and his lightning-quick hips to uncover split-second 1-on-1 advantages.
These traits popped early on vs. Wyatt Johnston, a smaller and stiffer skater who simply couldn’t keep up with Boldy’s trickery along the wall. The Olympic gold medalist won damn near every engagement in the first half of the contest, which led to plenty of zone time for a road club seeking to suck the life out of Dallas’ barn. Mission accomplished.
Now, conceding touches on the perimeter isn’t necessarily the end of the world. You can “bend, don’t break” your way to victory.
The problem for the Stars is that Boldy was also a demon in space:
Especially on zone entries, the winger’s gift for misdirection carved out room where there didn’t appear to be any. He kept Heiskanen guessing on a pair of 2-on-2s late in the second period, first hitting a stutter + forehand pull to walk Joel Eriksson Ek into a slapper from the top of the circle and then mohawking into middle ice before leading Marcus Johansson into space on the left flank. In contrast to the tighter PP entries, the Wild mixed in an east-west setup that granted Boldy a Grade A one-timer as well.
Trying to pin his intentions down was a nightmare, and as you might expect, his in-zone offense benefited most from that unpredictability:
Throughout Game 1, he alternated between modes and locations to prevent Dallas from catching on. Goal-line playmaking produced the 1-0 and 4-0 tallies, whereas longer-range attempts generated scrambles from farther out. He worked on and off schedule. He played with Minnesota’s time to and point of attack.
In short, he toyed with the Stars.
Up 4-1 to begin the third frame, the team’s priorities shifted to defense. He made his presence felt on that side of the puck too:
Nothing heroic here given the circumstances, but he flashed the smarts and active stick that have turned him into one of the finest two-way wingers around. That, in addition to his play with the puck, was more than enough to steal home ice advantage in a 6-1 win.
Readers may remember that I raved about Boldy a few months ago:
Pretty much every component of his toolkit was on full display in Game 1. Puck protection, dual-threat offense, matchup ability. Across all three games on Saturday’s docket, no player hit their groove as soon or as frequently as he did. Better yet for the Wild, he didn’t empty the tank in the process, logging a below-average 17:50 of ice time.
On the night, he posted a 65.4 CF%, 67.5 xGF%, 2 goals and 1 assist.
Here are the full highlights:
That game was so good for the Wild. It's a different team this year.