Wild’s victory over the Coyotes moves them even closer to the last playoff spot

Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek both collected one goal and one assist to lead the visiting Minnesota Wild to a 3-1 victory over the struggling Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.

Jonas Brodin also scored for the Wild, who are riding a four-game winning streak and have won seven of their last nine. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves for his 554th victory, a performance topped by a breakaway stop on Nick Bjugstad while it was a scoreless game.

Logan Cooley replied for the Coyotes, who are on a seven-game skid and have managed only four victories in 17 games (4-11-2) since the calendar flipped to 2024.

Starting goalie Connor Ingram stopped 28 of 30 shots before departing after the second period. Karel Vejmelka made 12 saves in relief.

Eriksson Ek opened the scoring at 14:01 of the first period. While on the power play, Eriksson Ek slipped into an open space in the slot and upon taking a pass from Boldy, snapped a one-timer into the net for his team-high 24th goal of the season.

Shortly after the Coyotes thought they had tied the game but saw it waived off due to goaltender interference, Brodin doubled the lead with his third goal of the campaign. Brodin was fed a drop pass when he joined a rush and converted a shot from the slot with 20.9 seconds remaining in the second period.

Cooley put the Coyotes on the board at 5:21 of the third period with his seventh of the season. After gaining the puck in the neutral zone, Cooley worked to the bottom of the left circle before finding the mark.

However, Boldy stretched his goal-scoring streak to three games when he restored Minnesota’s two-goal edge at 11:04 of the final frame. His shot trickled though Vejmelka, and the puck ended up in the net when the netminder spun his body and knocked it into the cage for Boldy’s 19th of the season.