The Wild took Matt Boldy off their top line this season in order to spread the scoring touch around their top three lines. Early returns indicate it was a good move.

Boldy, playing right wing with center Joel Eriksson Ek and left wing Marcus Johansson, had a goal and two assists as the second line paced the Wild to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the season opener for both teams Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.

“I think all of us played well,” said Boldy, who didn’t play a single preseason game this fall because of a lower body injury. “When you play with guys like Jojo, so skilled and such a dynamic skater, and then Ekky, who’s just an absolute beast, they make it easy. Playing hard, fast, simple, it was a good game.”

The second line scored both of the Wild’s even-strength goals. Johansson had two assists, and Eriksson Ek potted the go-ahead goal late in the second period. In the third, Boldy had the first assist on a Mats Zuccarello power play goal that gave the Wild some breathing room.

Filip Gustavsson, serving as the head of a three-goalie rotation that includes veteran Marc-Andre Fleury and rookie Jesper Wallstedt, was sharp in his season debut, stopping 31 of 33 shots, many tough stops at key junctures.

“I think I moved well. I thought I was in position a lot. And we’ve worked a lot on the defensive entries and in zone stuff,” Gustavsson said. “So, I thought we played good.”

Kent Johnson and Zack Werenski scored for the Blue Jackets, who were playing their first regular-season game under former Wild head coach Dean Evason, and Columbus had the go-ahead goal negated in the second period after Minnesota successfully challenged for goalie interference.

Still, Werenski scored on a power play at 17:06 remaining — after Jake Middleton was called for delay of game on a clear — and Evason pulled goaltender Elvis Merzlikins for an extra attacker with 1:21 left. Gustavsson made three big saves in the final 30 seconds, and the Wild held on. Merzlikins finished with 23 saves.

“I thought both goalies played really well. Gus in particular, looked confident, poised and competitive,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “He was in the right frame of mind, and that’s the type of goalie he can be, where I thought he fought through traffic and rebounds and did a good job in those situations. But I also thought he made some saves when we had breakdowns, some point-blank plays, he was reading the play and he was there and he was on time to make the save.”

With Gustavsson in net, the Wild shut out Florida, the defending Eastern Conference champion, in last season’s opener, then went on to lose seven of their next nine games, putting them in a hole from which they never recovered. Minnesota missed the playoffs last season for just the second time in 12 years.

“Last year, we started off with a pretty good game, too. We just didn’t get a game two that was good enough, or game three or game four. And we didn’t find it in the beginning,” Gustavsson said.

Midway through the third period, Boldy dug a puck out of the corner to set up a long cycle from the Wild’s first unit. He gave up a couple of good scoring chances to get the puck to an open player, then found Mats Zuccarello in the right circle with a cross ice pass. Zuccarello’s slap shot beat Merzlikins 5 hole for a 3-1 lead at 9:58.

“It was a good play,” Boldy said. “It was not a great pass. It was a little wobbly. So, it was a good shot.”

The Blue Jackets dominated most of the second period, but the Wild broke the momentum, and a 1-1 tie, on the second round of a cycle in the Jackets’ zone.

After Middleton pinched to keep the zone, Boldy sent the puck to Johansson at the red line, and Johansson fired to a charging Eriksson Ek, whose one-timer beat Merzlikins top shelf to a 2-1 lead at 16:35.

“It was fun. We know it’s there,” said Johansson. “It’s good to get off to a good start. I think we all three felt pretty good. That’s how we want to play and (we’ve) just got to build off that.”