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Gustavsson stars as Wild send slumping Maple Leafs to third straight loss

Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves as the Minnesota Wild edged Toronto 3-1 on Wednesday, sending the Maple Leafs to a third straight regulation loss.

Jared Spurgeon, Marat Khusnutdinov and Marcus Foligno, into an empty net, scored for Minnesota (30-17-4), which has won two straight and improved to 3-5-0 over its last eight games.

William Nylander replied for Toronto (30-19-2). Joseph Woll stopped 22 shots for the Leafs, who have three goals during their current slide.

How defensive blunders contributed to Maple Leafs' loss vs. Wild
David Amber and the Wednesday Night Hockey panel discuss how some defensive blunders led to the Toronto Maple Leafs' loss to the Minnesota Wild and why injuries may be weighing on Toronto.
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    The Wild were minus star forward and leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov (lower-body injury). The Russian sniper is set to undergo surgery and is expected to miss at least four weeks.

    Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Khusnutdinov and Spurgeon.

    Leafs captain Auston Matthews hit the post on a shot through traffic later in the period before Nylander rattled Gustavsson's crossbar on a breakaway in the second.

    Nylander cut the deficit in half midway through the third with his team-leading 29th goal of the season, but Foligno iced it late with Woll on the bench for an extra attacker.

    Takeaways

    Leafs: Max Pacioretty (upper-body injury) returned to the lineup following the forward's three-game absence.

    Wild: Veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury will play in Montreal one more time Thursday when Minnesota visits the Canadiens. The 40-year-old from Sorel, Que., is 10-5-1 with a .904 save percentage and 2.61 goals-against average in his final NHL season.

    How will the Maple Leafs manage game time between Woll and Stolarz?
    Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee discuss how the Toronto Maple Leafs might balance the game time between Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz moving forward and if they can consistently lean on one more than the other.
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      Key moment 

      After the Wild pushed ahead on Khusnutdinov's second of the campaign, Spurgeon made it 2-0 on a man advantage with his sixth when Matthews inadvertently tipped the defenceman's point shot past Woll.

      Key stat 

      Kaprizov, who missed his 14th contest because of injury, has 52 points (23 goals, 29 assists) in 2024-25. The 27-year-old entered Wednesday with an average of 1.41 points per contest, which placed him fifth in the NHL.

      Up next 

      Wild: Continue a five-game road trip Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens.

      Leafs: Start a four-game road trip Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers.

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