The Minnesota Wild made a long-anticipated changing of the guard in goal entering this season, following the retirement of the revered Marc-Andre Fleury and his second-most wins in NHL history.
The transition to Jesper Wallstedt as the backup to Filip Gustavsson has gone better than even the Wild could have envisioned. With a league-leading three shutouts over his last four starts, Wallstedt has played like he’s ready to be an equal part of an all-Swedish goaltending tandem on a team contending for the playoffs rather than just a rookie being eased into action.
With a 1.94 goals against average and a .935 save percentage, Wallstedt is in the top three in the NHL depending on where the playing-time minimums are drawn. He’s 6-0-2 in eight starts, becoming the fourth-youngest goalie in league history to start a season with an eight-game point streak.
The Wild, not coincidentally, have won five straight games to raise their November record to an NHL-best 9-1-1.
“When our team is boxing out players and taking sticks and blocking shots, that makes my job pretty easy,” said Wallstedt, who blanked Winnipeg on Sunday with 32 saves. “I feel like that’s been our biggest trend over the last month, especially in our own zone. Just making sure I can see and I can save the first puck, try to give no rebounds away.”
Gustavsson, who became the clear No. 1 goalie last season, shook off a rough start and has found his groove, too. He’s 4-1-1 with a .921 save percentage over his last six starts, including a shutout at Pittsburgh on Friday. After signing him to a five-year, $34 million contract extension near the end of training camp and watching their 2021 first-round draft pick blossom behind him, the Wild are feeling awfully good about their goaltending situation these days.
How Swede it is.
Both Gustavsson and Wallstedt, though four years apart, had the same goalie coaches growing up. Wallstedt even moved into Gustavsson’s old offseason apartment in Sweden, where the two grew closer last summer over golf and video games.
“Obviously it’s easier to have a conversation when you speak the same language. It’s pretty unique, being one of the only Swedish goalie tandems in a while,” Wallstedt said. “We’re great buddies, so I feel like our relationship is very good. We push each other, but at the same time we support each other.”
There are only 10 goalies born in Sweden who’ve appeared in an NHL game this season, and the Wild — fittingly for the Scandinavian country’s prominent place in Minnesota heritage — have their own pair.
“It’s a healthy competition, and I think that there’s a trust there,” coach John Hynes said. “I think that’s nice when you know, if the other guy’s going to play, that you can count on him to be able to do his job.”
The superstitious nature of the sport has steered many a coach to keep the same goalie in the next game after a shutout, but when the Wild play at Chicago on Wednesday, Gustavsson could well take the ice. Hynes said after practice on Tuesday he hadn’t yet decided. That would likely mean Wallstedt gets the net when the Wild host NHL-leading Colorado on Friday.
“They’ve both earned it. I think that the team ‘D’ in front of them is a lot sharper and better,” Hynes said. “When both goalies are playing as solid as they’re playing, then I think the rotation’s been good.”
Gustavsson and Wallstedt have kept the Wild from trailing for 480 consecutive minutes. The consecutive shutouts by different goalies was just the second time in franchise history that has happened for the Wild, with Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson the other pair to do so in 2003.
After indicating Wallstedt would join Gustavsson and Fleury in a three-man mix last season, the 23-year-old was sent back to work with AHL affiliate Iowa for a third straight season. Statistically, it was his worst year in the minor league. But when he returned to the team for the stretch run of the regular season, the Wild saw a more confident goalie.
“Sometimes you feel like you did better than someone else and maybe you feel like you deserve to get to the next level and play more, but also I think what has happened happened for a reason,” Wallstedt said. “I think the success I’m having right now is something that was maybe meant to happen after what happened in the years before.”
