Matt Boldy’s breakaway in overtime sealed the victory, but the Wild’s careful defense up to that point paved the way for this game.

The Leafs had just five shots on goal in the third, three scoring chances and just one very dangerous look, according to Natural Stat Trick. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson improved to 6-1-1 with his 27 saves, and in six of those eight games he allowed two goals or fewer.

“Our forwards do a great job of coming back and allowing us to stand up and make (the other team) play or even if we don’t have that gap, they come back and make them play before they want to , “said Captain Jared Spurgeon. “That’s a really big thing we’ve been working on in camp, and the forwards are doing a great job making it easy for us.”

With Kaprizov on a breathtaking scoring pace — it was only his second pointless game of the season after Winnipeg denied him on Oct. 13 — and on the heels of two 5-3 wins, the offense The Wild has received widespread praise for its 8-1-2 record which places the Wild third in the league with 18 points.

But the Wild limiting a talented Toronto squad to just one goal gave the goaltenders and defense a turn in the spotlight. Overall, only two teams (Carolina and the New York Rangers) have allowed fewer goals than the 27 the Wild have allowed.

“A lot of the offense comes from our ‘D’ playing so well, having good gaps and getting the puck out well,” Boldy said. “In our room, I think we give a lot of credit to our ‘D,’ and they’ve been great.”