LAS VEGAS — If the Wild want to have any hope of making the playoffs, they’re going to need more efforts like the masterpiece they put together against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night at T-Mobile Arena.

In a matchup against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Wild proved they still have some fight left in them, earning a 5-3 win thanks to a complete game from everybody involved.

The star of the game for the Wild was star winger Matt Boldy as he scored a goal that proved to be the game winner while adding a pair of assists. He has looked noticeably more aggressive since head coach John Hynes put him on the same line as star winger Kirill Kaprizov.

Not to be outdone, goaltender Filip Gustavsson rose to the occasion, too, posting 27 saves for the Wild.

Though there is still a lot of work to be done to chase down the final playoff spot, the Wild have won a few games in a row to get themselves back into the race. They also got some help while they were playing as the Calgary Flames and the Seattle Kraken both lost their respective games.

It would’ve been easy for the Wild to pack it in after falling behind 22 seconds into the game when defenseman Brock Faber inadvertently put the puck into the back of his own net. The fluky sequence occurred when a shot from Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault glanced off Faber’s stick, fluttered into the air and landed behind Gustavsson to make it 1-0.

Instead of sulking in the aftermath, the Wild responded with some intensity, turning the game on its head in roughly 90 seconds.

After drawing back-to-back-to-back penalties in short order, the Wild cashed in on the extended two-man advantage when winger Mats Zuccarello buried a perfect pass from Kaprizov to tie the game 1-1. Not long after that, center Joel Eriksson Ek redirected a touch pass from Boldy with the Wild still on the power play to make it 2-1.

That proved to be shortlived, as Golden Knights winger Michael Amadio cashed in on the power play late in the first period to level the score at 2-2.

The script flipped in the second period as the Wild went from controlling the pace to chasing the game for prolonged stretches. If it weren’t for a solid effort on the penalty kill — with a few good saves from Gustavsson — the Wild might’ve found themselves trialing the Golden Knights.

That trend continued in the third period with the Wild stepping up big time on the penalty kill in the early stages.

That set the stage for center Marco Rossi, who crashed the net after a power move by Boldy, putting the Wild in front 3-2 in the process. On the very next shift, Boldy finally scored himself, hustling for a loose puck near the crease and firing a shot on net to stretch the lead to 4-2.

Though things got interesting when Golden Knights captain Mark Stone sniped a shot to make it 4-3, the Wild did enough down the stretch with Eriksson Ek tacking on an empty netter to finalize the score at 5-3.

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