Matt Boldy's breakaway in overtime sealed the win, but the Wild's detailed defense up to that point paved the way for that play.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Leafs had just five shots on goal, three scoring chances and just one dangerous attack in the third period. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson improved his record to 6-1-1 with 27 saves and conceded two or fewer goals in six of those eight games.

“Our forwards do a great job of coming back and letting us get up and chip (the other team), or even when we don't have that gap, they come back and force them to make plays before they want to.” said Captain Jared Spurgeon. “It's a big, big thing we've been working on in camp and the forwards are doing a great job of making it easy for us.”

With Kaprizov's blistering scoring pace – this was only his second scoreless game of the season after Winnipeg beat him on October 13 – and after two 5-3 victories, the Wild offense has received plenty of praise, with an 8-1-2 record, at which has the Wild in third place in the league with 18 points.

But the fact that Wild limited Toronto's talented lineup to one goal put the goaltending and defense in the spotlight. Overall, only two teams (Carolina and the New York Rangers) have allowed fewer goals than the 27 the Wild conceded.

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